The German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, has warned that success for far-right parties in two regional elections next Sunday could scare off foreign investors. Speaking in a radio interview, Mr. Schröder said that "Germany is a free, democratic nation. And everything connecting us to the brown (Nazi) cesspool damages us, damages Germany and damages our standing with international investors. I hope voters will not give rightwing extremists a chance".
Opinion polls suggest that the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany could win 7-9% in elections in Saxony, eastern Germany. The party, which last exceeded the 5 per cent threshold needed for representation in a regional parliament in 1968, is classified as neo-Nazi by Germany's internal security services. A rival far-right party, the DVU German Peoples' Union, is expected to be re-elected to parliament in Brandenburg, also in eastern Germany, with 5-6%of the vote. The NDP and DVU have benefited in recent weeks from political unrest in eastern Germany over the government's welfare reforms, which will lead to benefit cuts for many unemployed people.
