Party at poll high
Authorities chief warns: AfD elections are no longer protests
7/2/2023 3:34 am
In recent weeks, the AfD has reached record values in some polls. This cannot be explained by a mere East German phenomenon, says the President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education.
The President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Thomas Krüger, has warned against dismissing the high approval ratings for the AfD as a protest or a typical East German phenomenon. “I warn against seeing the election of the AfD as a protest,” he told the editorial network Germany (RND). “The voters want this party. That’s the seriousness of the situation.” Certain positions have been established in parts of society that are unacceptable and incompatible with democratic principles.
The AfD is “a successful radicalization collective,” said Krüger, with a view to the AfD’s high poll numbers and the election of an AfD politician to the district administrator of the Thuringian district of Sonneberg. In Krüger’s estimation, behind the label “typically East German” lies “the attempt by non-East Germans to explain the phenomenon”.
Last weekend, the AfD candidate Robert Stuhlmann was elected Germany’s first AfD district administrator in the Sonneberg district, which caused horror among many politicians from other parties. The Thuringian AfD is classified and observed by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a secured right-wing extremist.
AfD second strongest party in polls
In the surveys of several survey institutes, the party recently achieved maximum values. This led to a partisan debate about who was politically responsible – coalition parties and the opposition Union pushed each other to share responsibility. In the latest trend barometer from ntv, the AfD was again at 19 percent. If there were a federal election on Sunday, the AfD would be the second strongest behind the Union, which got 27 percent. The SPD was only in third place with 18 percent, followed by the Greens with 15 percent, the FDP with 7 percent and the Left with 4 percent.
The fact that numerous people in Germany consider the AfD to be dangerous is clear from Friday’s ZDF “Politbarometer”. According to this, around two-thirds of those surveyed believe that the AfD is dangerous for democracy – including 68 percent in the west and 53 percent in the east. A total of 32 percent see no threat to democracy from the AfD, despite the high level of support among voters. The remaining respondents answered “don’t know”. In addition, 78 percent assume that right-wing extremist views are widespread in the AfD. 19 percent say no.