BERLIN (Sputnik) — AfD has been making gains in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt where it is expected to win 10-17 percent of votes.
The EU skeptics have been campaigning on a fiercely anti-immigrant platform, prompting several mainstream parties to bow out of TV debates featuring AfD.
"Of course, I support opinion exchanges with AfD representatives in, for instance, TV debates, but the Christian-Democratic Party (CDU) will make it very clear that it does not see any possibility for political cooperation with AfD or winning the majority with its help," Merkel said in an interview with German broadcaster MDR.
February opinion polls indicated that Merkel’s ruling CDU/CSU Union and its Socialist coalition partners looked set to lose the majority in at least two of the three regions that are due to elect regional governments this Sunday.
Criticism has been mounting against the Merkel government over its open-door migration policy after a high-profile series of attacks on women in Cologne.
