Germany: Populist, right-wing, xenophobic AfD party is on the rise, a ban on it is being debated
The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a populist, right-wing party, is currently at the height of its popularity and is making no secret of its interest in governing in the runup to September's elections in the states of Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia. The other parties currently in power at the federal level consider the AfD to be far-right and are accusing each other of responsibility for the growth in its popularity.
A possible ban on the AfD is also being discussed more and more openly in the country. Those in favor of a ban include the co-chair of the Social Democrats (SPD), Saskia Esken, but Parliamentary State Secretary for East Germany and Equivalent Living Conditions Carsten Schneider does not recommend such a step.
AfD MP Petr Bystroň, who is of Czech origin, called the debate on banning the party an act of desperation in an interview with the Czech News Agency (ČTK). SPD co-chair Esken was quoted as saying “The AfD exploits any subject to make people angry with each other. It is an unambiguously antidemocratic party, in my view. It’s good an AfD ban is being discussed and that the voters are waking up.”
The proposal to ban the AfD has also been supported by Petra Köpping, an influential member of the Social Democrats who is the Saxon State Social Affairs Minister and who is leading the SPD into the state elections in Saxony. “We should be regularly investigating the chances of banning the AfD,” she said in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine.
Köpping also said she considers it a failure that Germany has not yet decided to dissolve the ultra-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). In the past, that party managed to seat representatives in the Saxon State Legislature, but is currently just a fringe party.
The process of banning the NPD failed, in Köpping’s view, because the party scored poor electoral results, but the AfD’s case is a different situation. “The AfD is strong and represents a threat to our democracy,” she said.
A ban on the AfD is also being discussed by the former Social Democratic speaker of the Federal Parliament, Wolfgang Thierse, who has pointed out that regional secret services in three states have identified the party as demonstrably extremist. “That means the state is obligated to investigate banning the AfD,” he said in an interview with the daily Der Tagesspiegel.
“This is an expression of desperation. The SPD, according to current polls, will not pass the 5 % threshold in Saxony even together with the FDP, while the AfD is the strongest party. These attempts will be of no avail to them anymore, the AfD will govern,” Bystroň told ČTK.
Bystroň, who is a federal MP, is one of the AfD’s most influential and visible figures, not just in his home state of Bavaria, but also at the federal level. The party selected him to be the second candidate on its list for the European Parliament (EP) elections in June, so his departure for Brussels is essentially secure.
After the June elections, Bystroň expects the AfD to be seated in the EP as Germany’s strongest party there. He also assumes the AfD will take up the governance of Saxony and possibly even Thuringia.
The party’s success is being forecast by public opinion polls according to which it dominates all of eastern Germany with the exception of Berlin. At the federal level, it comes in second with roughly 23 % after the conservative CDU/CSU.
According to the most recent poll by the Civey agency and the daily Sächsische Zeitung, the AfD would win 37 % of the vote in Saxony. The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) would come in second with 33 %.
The post-communist Die Linke (The Left) party would make it into the Saxon state legislature with 8 % and the Greens with 7 %, but the Social Democrats would not be seated, scoring just 3 %, nor would the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 1 %. The AfD is also promised victory by polls in Brandenburg (27 %) and Thuringia (34 %).
Whether the AfD will actually be able to govern may also depend on the CDU. The party refuses to collaborate with the AfD, but some statements by conservative politicians, including the CDU chair, Friedrich Merz, are sparking doubts as to whether the party will stick to its pledge.
Speaking in an interview with the daily Münchner Merkur, Merz sharply criticized Esken for her proposal to ban the AfD. “Such debates are just grist to the AfD mill,” he said.
“Does the SPD chair seriously believe it is possible to easily ban a party that is heading to 30 % in the polls?” Merz asked. “That is a disturbing denial of reality.”
Esken’s idea was also not backed by the FDP, which is governing with the Greens and the SPD at the federal level. “Whoever wants the AfD to disappear should introduce better policies and not speak of banning parties,” FDP vice-chair Wolfgang Kubicki told media held by the Funke group.
“If voters are leaving us, we are disappointed,” Kubicki said. Parliamentary State Secretary Schneider, who is from the SPD, also said he does not consider it clever to launch a process of banning the AfD.
“If we ban a party that we don’t like, but is leading in the public opinion polls, that will just lead to even greater solidarity with that party,” Schneider told the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. “The damage would be too great,” he said, adding that it is necessary to show voters what the AfD plans are and how the party would harm Germany.
The AfD is not just a matter of interest to its political competitors, but is also being investigated by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s civilian counter-intelligence service. In its official statistics, the BfV counts members of the party as members of the ultra-right.
The AfD’s youth organization, Young Alternative (JA), is also being monitored by the secret services. AfD rejects the accusation that it is engaged in anti-constitutional, extremist activity.
