let's cross live now to the german city of hamburg where beyond tells us only a member of germany's left party joins us welcome why do you think the the christian democrats the ruling party were willing to go against their own promise and cooperate with alternative for germany crucial vote. that is a good question i cannot i cannot answer for the position of the. c.d.u. i think it even the main party had of the christian democrats in berlin not really know what made their party fellows and act this way because it poses a great danger for the role of the christian democrats as the ruling party and the paci that is always has been the right wing party in reserve to take over and has been in power for well off of the last century so their criticism of the radical right wing a of the party has always been they cannot be trusted with power and now they have themselves elected the same candidate. and they have allowed a if the most radical faction of the age of the confection to play kingmaker in a german state election is an unprecedented day and we have thousands of people demonstrating in the str

as they discussed sting charade in fact the left party going on to slam the free democrats saying that they've essentially achieved power by joining forces with fascists the christian democratic union as i mentioned until america's party well their party leader callum bauer who is widely tipped as a potential to successor to mrs merkel as chancellor of germany has said that their local party representatives acted without the authority of central office this is not a good day this is not a good day for to be in chair this is not a good day for the political system in germany but what this is doing is it sparked protests across germany including here in the german capital impromptu demonstrations outside of the free democratic party headquarters some very angry scenes there is they came out to slam the f. f. to appear for what many see as breaking one of the most altima to. booze in german politics of doing it deal or getting into bed with a day at their party leader christie and linda was speaking to the press saying well certainly doing his best to distance himself from alternative for

presidential election against donald trump but the party has been left reeling from glitches in its new mobile app which is meant to deliver results. of a nightmare scenario and if so what do you do about it these are probably the most prepared we've ever been as a party for these carcasses and we've run through a few different scenarios but i can tell you were ready was the starting pistol i'd settle for a race and at the end the prize is becoming the presidential nominee and that the finish line. to find out who won. it's precinct caucus results started coming in the iowa democratic party ran them through an accuracy and quality check it became clear that they were in consistencies with reports the underlying cause of these in consistencies was not immediately clear and required investigation which took time this is an embarrassment all they had to do was count the votes the polling stations counted the votes all they had to do was add together the tallies what a 10 year old could do in a calculator the democratic party couldn't this mess was caused by a new app designed to speed up v

look on the flags on the signs of the those people who are protesting those are members of the left party of the socialist party of the green party those are extreme left extremists from the anti far also organized protests of the losers they're just not they are just not accepting that they have lost and the. you're just breaking up a little but let's keep with you one last point though on this. because of the reaction do you feel that this will only be a temporary. kind of accord together with the other parties that possibly the other bigger parties are now going to distance themselves even further away because of the reaction or is this a seismic change in german politics what's your take. and this is a big change this is the same as it breaks it on the international level you know once you have proved that this is possible you can put it back and they the other side knows it very well and this is the reason why they are driving so mad you know this is the beginning of the end of the era of the left this is the angle of the era of the 68 generation and you will see we will have. in the

left parties are doing badly.ack to brian briefly on that question of the unification agenda. that's been the chief pledge of sinn fein, the going to insist on a referendum if they move into some sort of coalition? it wasn't a huge issue on the doorsteps. all the other stuff like housing was the big issue. if you asked mcdonald's, she would say we have a five year plan, going to do it properly not next year or thereafter, it will take five years. according to the rules, medially mcdonald's, even if she was taoiseach, couldn't decide if the people of northern ireland should or shouldn't hold a referendum, that is the british government, and under the british government, and under the good friday agreement the british government will only do that, according to the wording of the agreement, if there is a possibility that more people may wa nt possibility that more people may want reunification than not. lets leave that issue and go back in a way to what stephen was saying, which i think resonates with what you're say

talking about a black eye and a full from grace for the mainstream parties here in germany now the left party in . which led the previous government there is in a state of shock the party's parliamentary chair refused to hand her bouquet of flowers to the newly elected state premier and instead just dropped it at his feet as we see here. simon what does this tell us about the political mood in germany but i think that just. illustrates the disgust that many people feel and not just supporters of the left policy many people feel that the a.f.d. is as its core a racist and anti semitic policy and in particular in the state of the ranger where its leader has been particularly strident in making provocative comments talking about germany's immigration policy being the abolition of the german people talking about the holocaust memorial in berlin as a shameful monument and many other such such quotes where he sort of plays the chain of the far right he's a representative of the far right people say to support him here to accept his support and therefore implicitly to support his party is a real bre

frankfurt had just voted in a new mayor a candidate put forward by the greens and the left party. the city presented itself proudly as open and welcoming. when the new mayor rene felker decided to take radical action and deport the attackers he caused a stir both in his own left party and the city as a whole. as his ethmoid i 1st heard about renee villagers plan i was really angry and sad. i never would have thought that he would even consider doing something like bad let alone actually do it. but the mayor says that he wanted to avoid the incident being instrumental ised by the far right . the only one in normal course of the uncertainty among the population was simply enormous and i wanted to make sure that everything was done by the book today we know that in 3 cases the sentences are so harsh that they are likely to be deported 3 to 4 of his these some of these people have had so many 2nd chances this is more like their 15th chance that's why the show through the additional some time you know. one of the attackers many of whom were known to the police already disagrees putting

around a lot of has described the election of mr kerik as a discussed sting sharod in fact the left party have been describing the free democrats as being willing to rule by the help of fascists the christian democratic union if they've come under fire from their party leader. has said the regional party representatives acted without the knowledge or without the consent of central office this is not a good day this is not a good day for to be in chair this is not a good thing. for the political system in germany or what this is seen as protests across germany. was was. here in the german capital in those protests so focused on the headquarters of the free democratic party the people angry that the f.d.a. pay of broken well for many is one of the biggest to boos in german politics of getting into bed with alternative for germany the party leader christine linton at the head of the f.d.a. pay it done his best to distance himself and his party from alternative for germany . eve does support comes as a surprise because it is not motivated by an agreement on substance but purely tactical the f

this is how the conservative majority prevailed and that's great because if we want to put the left party leadership to posture and we succeeded this is going to be the conservative christian democrats took their time to react some welcomed the result of the vote speaking in strasburg the head of chancellor merkel's party had this message. this will hurt you in 2 other than the way our party members voted in 3 range i was especially against our recommendation of. i want to make that clear once more we have not approved i consider it to be clearly wrong. it's both mainstream conservative parties are calling for new elections in 3. places in our top it is an unacceptable breach to align votes with those of the far right for the office of state premier minister was in variance with us and the center left sees the vote as a threat to the government there calling for a special. meeting of the coalition committee at the federal level. this was planned in advance for a fixed con game with a clear goal that the free democrats the christian democrats and the far right and if they would form a comm

right now that's to death and the city you had a longstanding wish into range out to to prevent the left party from ruling so the question is why traditional would traditional party no accept to work with such. parties like to deal with the far right party so as to reach our top sides so as to retain power on the other side is that we should say that the f.t.e. is a democratically elected party so why sit should a decision be reversed that was you know of course conducted in a democratic way well new elections were bound to happen as is than because thomas kenniff said he had said he wouldn't cooperate in a government with the a.v.n. he could have only managed to govern with a majority. including the a of these since no one wanted to cooperate with him now if we see new elections in 3 there's bound to be some shifts because but we're not sure they're going to benefit traditional parties now because there's a breach of trust between the people and traditional parties after what just happened yesterday is so new elections and the result is very uncertain all right monitoring all of it for us and

many disgusted the head of his left party through have ok of flowers that come on the street during the inauguration of the party's join the chorus of criticism. is this activism inacceptable breach of the should be elected state premier with the votes especially with a vote of mr. go. to a concert again with a very clear goal that he has good. enough to enter into a joint alliance and the next states prime minister president in vienna. within hours of the vote people had gathered all over germany to protest. demonstrations continued into thursday with protesters standing against fascism i'm rejecting the state premier who made it into office with the help of the far right. well to unpick this story i'm joined here in the studio by d.w. political correspondent emmanuel shaz emmanuel this story has quite a few twists and turns the latest big now that the free democrats say they want to dissolve the state parliament what would that mean well thomas cameras to a new elected premier of already say that he was stepping down and he called for new elections but the damage has alread

christian democrats down around 11 of the left party is at 9.2 percent on the far right a d.c. if they're coming in just under 5 percent that's the magic number to remain in parliament the business friendly f.t.p. right at 5 percent and you see the other parties there rounding out the rest of the projections. political correspondent kate brady joins me now in studio to help break down those results kate 1st of all just what stands out to you with those numbers of just all oh well for us and for what the. booking the national trends and they have managed to hold on to that strong hold a pen in hamburg at the same time of course the greens have come out the big winners they've doubled their amount of since the last state election up in hamburg in 2015 the cd you have a cd you they've seen a record low sinking down to as little as 11.5 percent they've never really have much of a stronghold or a strong sense of support in any way but of course the debacle recently just a few weeks ago in the eastern state of 3rd which saw the c.d.u. that cooperate with the f.d.a. and they won't hel

other day, and they made an interesting observation or posed the question, ‘why is that the parties of the leftll, whereas other parties on the left don't?‘ i know you don't think that played a big part in the sinn fein success, but both the snp, which is an effective party of the left, and sinn fein are nationalist parties doing well, and other left parties are doing badly. i think that is interesting. let's go back to brian briefly on that question of the unification agenda. yes. that's been the chief pledge of sinn fein, are they going to insist on a referendum if they move into some sort of coalition? well, it wasn't a huge issue on the doorsteps. all the other stuff like housing was the big issue. but if you asked mary lou mcdonald, she would say we have a five year plan, going to do it properly not next year or thereafter, it will take five years. according to the rules, mary lou mcdonald, even if she was taoiseach, couldn't decide if the people of northern ireland should or shouldn't hold a referendum, that is the british government. and under the good friday agreement the british govern

political alliance has been formed in a german state the ruling centrist party and right wing politicians have joined forces to a regional left wing premier no it defies repeated declarations by the national party in charge they would not work together with the far right peter all of us spoke to her. it's not often we're talking about high drama in german politics but it's fair to say that it's been shaken to its very core by the election of a new state premier in turn into well this is after the far right until immigration party alternative for germany essentially played the role of king maker. the free democratic party candidate thomas kennedy will be the new state premier it's worth noting his party only picked up 5 seats in the election that was held back in october of last year but with the backing of a day along with people members of the christian democratic union angler merkel's party he was able to win the election in the in the state parliament by just one solitary vote well it's been described by the outgoing state premier who lost the election he's the representative of the left party as they discussed sting chara

islands modern political history it looks as if they could be a shift away from the centrist parties to the left wing shinn fame party during 30 years of violence in northern ireland a period known simply as the troubles in which 3 and a half 1000 people died shin fein were regarded as being the political wing of the paramilitary group the ira the party now says those old distinctions no longer applied have set tackling some of violence biggest problems at the heart of the party's campaign also want to hold a referendum on unifying arland within 5 years something that the centrist parties say it's too soon a referendum that could have a destabilizing factor on the whole of the island of ireland no single party is expected to win this election outright coalition building is inevitable the question is whether these parties can work together to form a stable government if barca for inside story well here's a look at some of the main campaign themes in this election in a recent poll voters said that health care worse that top priority hospitals are facing staffing shortages at a struggling to meet d

around a lot of has described the election of mr kerik as a discussed sting sure rons in fact the left party have been describing the free democrats as being willing to rule by the help of fascists the christian democratic union if they've come under fire from their party leader i'm going to come. has said the regional party representatives acted without the knowledge or without the concept of central office this is not a good day this is not a good day for to be in chair this is not a good day for the political system in germany christiane lindner the head of the f.d.a. pay it had done his best to distance himself under his party from alternative for germany the. eve does support comes as a surprise because it is not motivated by an agreement on substance but purely tactical the f.t.p. does not negotiate or cooperate with the d. there is no basis for cooperation we do not support the goals and values of that party while thomas kenniff accepted the votes from a day or 2 put him over the line and make him the new state premier into danger he has ruled out any coalition government talks in the

it's not actually a left wing party it's primarily a nationalist party whose ultimate goal is you know if you are and anything else is . i mean it's interested in a very good left wing policy but it's it's no it's. kind of an ideological or doctrinaire left 'd wing party it's going to be quite a pragmatic party and you could make a comparison to actually put on hold some of the party in the 1930 s. which came in as a time when everybody was scared but there were kind of people talking about you know who have they sold the cones and who were there under their coats. and what it did was it came in and quite a radical social program and so in many ways sure they might be arrested in the fall in the ninety's thirty's which would be a pragmatic progressive but not ideological in any way and so in. we might be seen move to a left right. but it actually could be a continuance of a crowd of pragmatic parties which is i think a lot of people seem to be afraid of sion 3 if they were to get into government should. be quite as many people here and they certainly won't be as good as a lot of good p

still to come a top german official hit out at both left and right wing parties for the wing christian democrats deepening crisis tells absolute right. you know beneath. the kind of good intentions are fine for teachers. and christening to and maybe even 40 years ago simply evaporate to see them to not see it coming pleasurable to live. is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation whole community. are you going the right way or are you being led. dialling. what is true what is faith. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or a made in the shallowness. welcome back a top official from germany's ruling christian democrats has blamed both the left and right wing parties for its failing public support there has been a massive vocal backlash to the c.b.s. alliance and a key regional election with the anti immigrant alternative for germany party that are all over us more. the times a set for changing for angle of a christian democratic union party with how they're going to cram our announcing that she wi

which some people see is an extreme left party that was actually the successor to the east european continent is germany a communist party the cd and miracles party many of her party most part in the party refused to cooperate with with them as well so they're ruling out 2 parties that collectively got about 50 percent 50 plus percent of the vote and you know but again this is this is an east german phenomenon if you look at where the if he is in the western german states and northern german states in particular they're in the mid single digits so i think there's a too much the steering had what was their percentage i think it's only 434 exactly whereas i think the link you got 202829. you know said so there is a shift in in the east towards the f.t. we've seen that over the past several regional elections and you know that's the real. this is the problem and i think this is what happened to regular last week is the inevitable result of the fact that a quarter of the population in east germany is voting for a far right party and even doing it in this particular case the a.f.d. in th

a gesture from this left party politician has become a symbol of protest even chancellor merkel who was on a state visit to south africa spoke out. of action was unforgivable and so the results must be river. but even the new premiers resignation couldn't calm the storm democratic election or to. what message chancellor in just sent. then to win it it is unclear to this day to what degree the christian democrats in theory actually overtly coordinated with the f.t. on that 3rd round of voting that occurred nonetheless the reaction from berlin was absolutely immediate and the negative as we have seen so why what is behind this taboo and even in direct coordination with the a.f.p. i think that merkel and the leadership of the party decided we cannot work with the f.t. that extremist we can know if we don't want to and that would be the start of the decline of the c.d.u. and of course if you break that consensus if you start chipping away at the consensus then. then it just doesn't work any more so that's why i think the reaction was also so strong is it impossible we have to live as that t

because it's more fragmented i mean for instance there are 2 center left parties now there's the labor party in the social democrats you've also going to have lots of different agendas from the opposition and the only reason that we had a stable government over the last 4 years was the fianna fáil supported phoenixville from the opposition benches there is a pos one possible outcome that martin may have the moral authority to turn around to leo varadkar and said well we did it for you it's no your turn to bite the bullet and do for us. there's a certain way politics to be does the so that you know varadkar to me there has already announced that he wants to head to the opposition benches he's hoping then that will force martin to do what martin absolutely doesn't want to do which is to go into government with and i don't think he will i think the alternative. is probably another election if they fail to pull this off together but surely a couple circumstances another election would also suit shouldn't they have the moment there's not many scenarios and scenarios going forward that doesn