Germany's fledgling anti-euro party has celebrated election gains in two eastern states, in a show of strength that spells a growing threat for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.
"We are the force that's renewing the political landscape," said a jubilant Bernd Lucke, leader of the eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD), which wants Europe's biggest economy to scrap the euro and return to the Deutschmark currency.
"I'm happy about this enormous vote of confidence," said the economics professor.
His nascent conservative party, which was only formed early last year, gained 10 per cent in Thuringia state and 12 per cent in Brandenburg, said exit polls by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF on Sunday.
The strong results -- far better than those of the long established Greens, who scored five-six per cent, and the Free Democrats, who failed to get any seats -- came two weeks after the AfD party also entered parliament in the eastern state of Saxony with almost 10 per cent.
Analysts had predicted the AfD would draw much of the protest vote in the former East Germany, which still lags western states in wealth, jobs and wages 25 years after the Berlin Wall fell.
The results give a political toehold to the party which only narrowly missed out on entering the national parliament last September and won seven seats in European Parliament elections in May.
The AfD denies seeking hardline right-wing voters, but flirts with populist ideas on issues such as law and order, immigration and traditional social values.
Merkel, worried about the AfD's growing ballot box appeal, this week said that "we must address the problems that concern the people", including "crime and rising numbers of asylum seekers".
Analysts say the AfD is seeking to occupy the political ground to the right of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) while keeping its distance from the far-right fringe, like the openly xenophobic National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).
Political scientist Werner Patzelt of Dresden Technical University said that the AfD's central theme -- railing against eurozone bailouts and an emerging EU "super state" -- is unlikely to go away soon.
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