難民政策惹禍? 德國地方選舉默克爾嚴重受挫

The party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered defeats in three states holding regional elections on Sunday.

週日，在德國三個州舉行的地方選舉中，總理默克爾領導的執政黨遭受重挫。

Merkel's ruling Christian Democrats lost ground in all three states - Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate in the west and Saxony-Anhalt in the east - which were together widely seen as offering a verdict on Merkel's liberal migrant policy. Voters turned in droves to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany.

默克爾領導的基督教民主聯盟(基民盟)在西部的巴登·符騰堡州、萊茵蘭·普法爾茨州與東部的薩克森·安哈爾特州的地區選舉中全部失利。外界廣泛認爲，這些州的投票結果是對默克爾的自由移民政策作出的裁定。選民紛紛投向反移民政黨"德國新選擇黨"。

In the western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, a former stronghold of the conservative Christian Democrats, support for the party reached a historic low of about 27%, the exit polls suggest.

民意調查顯示，作爲保守派基督教民主聯盟的前大本營，在位於西部的巴登·符騰堡州，該黨派的支持率竟然創造了歷史最低的27%。

The elections were seen as a test of support for Chancellor Merkel's policy of accommodating refugees. More than a million migrants and refugees entered Germany in 2015.

該選舉曾被視爲支持默克爾總理收容難民政策的一個考驗。在2015年，超過100萬的移民和難民涌入了德國。

Responding to voters' fears, Merkel has promised to stem the flow of migrants to Germany, and is trying to convince Turkey to help - and other EU partners to share the burden.

作爲對選民憂慮的迴應，默克爾已承諾遏制難民流入德國，並嘗試說服土耳其提供幫助、讓其他歐盟夥伴國共同分擔難民問題。