Exit polls show the nationalist AfD party, Alternative for Germany, not only won its first parliamentary election, but it might have won close to 100 seats.

It's now the third strongest party in Parliament.

AfD has been labeled anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim. The party harshly criticized Merkel's policy of allowing a flood of refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war into the country in 2015.

Merkel has been in power for 12 years, and this will be her fourth term as German chancellor, but she'll face a difficult task of forming new coalitions in Parliament.

"We live in stormy times," Merkel declared. "I have the intention of achieving a stable government in Germany."
  
Major Jewish groups expressed dismay that the AfD is suddenly the third largest party in German Parliament. The World Jewish Congress calls the party "a disgraceful reactionary movement which recalls the worst of Germany's past." 

Some protesters were more blunt, calling the AfD "Nazis."
  
AfD leaders dismissed such talk. Chairman Joerg Meuthen said the election sends a message "that there is conservative politics in Germany again. And that there are patriots in the German parliament again."
  
"I want to emphasize that there is absolutely no risk of extreme right politics in the German parliament," he said.
  
Fellow European right-wing populists hailed AfD's performance. The Netherlands' Geert Wilders wrote on Twitter: "The message is clear. We are no Islamic nations."  

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