Right-wing German party gaining ground fast

GERMANY’S right-wing populist AfD party ramped up attacks yesterday against immigration and Islam as its poll ratings jumped in the final stretch of election campaigning, while Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party dipped.

The Muslim religion did not belong in Germany, a top candidate of the Alternative for Germany, Alexander Gauland, said.

He argued that its political doctrine was not compatible with a free country.

“Islamist rhetoric and violence and terror have roots in the Koran and in the teachings of Islam,” he said.

Gauland and the other top AfD candidate, Alice Weidel, have stirred controversy before Sunday’s general election.

Gauland has argued Germany should be proud of its veterans of two world wars. And Weidel has reportedly employed an asylum seeker without paying tax, a claim she has denied.

Latest polls show the AfD at 10 to 12%, up from 8 to 10%, potentially making it Germany’s thirdstrongest party.

But Merkel’s CDU and its Bavarian allies CSU slipped two points to 36%, close to the all-time low of 35% when the Social Democrats (SPD) led by Gerhard Schroeder defeated them in 1998.

Merkel’s conservative alliance, however, still commanded a huge lead over the SPD of her top rival Martin Schulz, which slipped to 23%.

The trend suggests the AfD will not only be the first right-wing nationalist party to enter the German parliament since 1945 but, depending on what coalition emerges, could also lead the opposition in the Bundestag.

Weidel’s ambitions do not stop there. She said on Saturday the aim of all parties was not to be the opposition, but to govern.

“All our lawmakers should gain professionalism very quickly during the first term, so that by 2021 we are able to govern.”

Founded as an anti-euro party, the AfD recorded a surge in support after it began capitalising on unease in Germany over the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers since 2015. Its members now sit in 13 of 16 state assemblies. As alarm has grown over the AfD’s rise, Schulz, who has described the party as far-right and its leaders as racists, warned, however, against ostracising its supporters.

“We must fight against the leaders of the party, but we must not attack their sympathisers,” the SPD candidate said. “We must listen to the people who are attracted to the AfD. There’s no doubt about it. They must be won back.”

A leader of the far-left Linke party, Katja Kipping, also urged voters to close ranks and stop the AfD becoming the biggest opposition force in Germany.