Polling stations opened Sunday (September 1st) in eastern Germany, where some 5.5 million voters are being called to ballot to elect their new regional parliaments.

These elections could constitute a new setback for the Social Democrats of the SPD and promote the breakup of the coalition they form in Berlin with the conservatives of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

>> Read: Merkel's coalition parties in crisis meetings

Anger against migration policy

The alternative party for Germany (AfD, extreme right) should cumulate the gains at the expense of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Angela Merkel and the SPD, expected him, as the main loser of the two polls. Exit polls should be known by 4 pm GMT and the closing of the polls.

AfD, which made its entry into the national parliament in 2017, exploits voters' anger against migration policy and the upcoming closure of coal mines in Brandenburg and Saxony.

He presents himself as the heir of the movement that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall three decades ago.

The AfD is given in a final poll to 21%, a point behind the SPD in voting intentions in Brandenburg, that the Social Democrats have been governing without interruption since the reunification of Germany.

A victory of the extreme right in this border state of Poland would certainly have the effect of accentuating the calls within the SPD demanding a break with the federal coalition.

In neighboring Saxony, the AfD is overtaken by the conservatives of Angela Merkel (CDU), of which this Land is a stronghold, but culminates at 24.5% in polls.

In both cases it will be a spectacular increase compared to previous polls, if these scores are confirmed: 8.8 points in Brandenburg and close to 15 points in Saxony.

This, however, may not be enough for the AfD to gain power in these regions. The established parties, in particular the CDU, have already warned that they would not form a coalition with the AfD. The political game will end up very complicated.

"Earthquake in the east" ?

"Earthquake in the east, earthquake in Berlin?" Asks the newspaper Merkur. A resounding defeat of the SPD "would bring water to the mill" detractors of the coalition, writes the publication based in Munich.

The SPD, led by an interim trio since its defeat at last May's European elections, is expected to elect its new president next December. The party promised to take stock of the coalition formed with conservatives CDU-CSU.

A fall in the "Große Koalition" (GroKo) could trigger early federal elections, a gloomy assumption for the SPD, which dropped to a historic low of around 15% in national opinion polls, far away behind the conservatives of Merkel and the Greens.

"The coalition is not an end in itself for us," in an interview with Focus magazine, the head of the Conservatives in the national parliament, Ralph Brinkhaus, in the form of a warning to the SPD. "We will certainly not bend in four just to reach" the national elections scheduled for 2021, he added.

With AFP and Reuters