WorldBERLIN, AFP -German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Monday to “win back trust” of voters angered by her open-door refugee policy after her conservatives suffered a humiliating election loss to an anti-migrant party. The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party clinched almost 21 percent in its first bid for seats in the regional parliament of the north-eastern ex-Communist state on Sunday, against 19 percent for Merkel's party. - 'Protest storm' - =================== The state vote was held exactly one year after Merkel opened German borders to a mass influx of mainly Syrian refugees stranded in Hungary. “This was more than a small state election, it was a vote on Merkel,” said news site Spiegel Online, pointing at the “protest storm” in “Merkel's living room”. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen wrote on Twitter: “What was impossible yesterday has become possible: the AfD patriots have swept away Merkel's party!

Source: Sunday Times September 05, 2016 12:56 UTC