Germans go to the polls Sunday. Chancellor Scholz's Social Democrats are likely to lose to the conservative CDU party, as the right-wing Alternative for Germany party is likely to make gains.
Germans go to the polls Sunday as the conservative Christian Democrats, led by Friedrich Merz, are expected to oust current Chancellor Olaf Scholz. But the potential incoming chancellor has already signaled he will not rule with Germany’s right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party. Germany's election has also caught the attention of Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk. Musk has championed the AfD as the best political party to fix Germany's economic woes.
The main political parties governing Germany have established a ‘firewall’ between themselves and the AfD, which essentially means they refuse to endorse, collaborate with or support far-right parties like the AfD,' Anna Hardage, fellow in European Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, told Fox News Digital. The AfD expects to have its best performance in an election, doubling its vote count from 2021, and could become Germany’s second-biggest political party.
If Merz and his Christian Democratic Union party refuse to work with the AfD, Germany may end up with a coalition of parties that have fewer shared priorities, except a shared desire to avoid partnering with the AfD. Hardage noted that while the AfD will most likely be shut out of any governing coalition, the party’s success in mobilizing public opinion means its positions will shape public debates around the biggest issues facing Germany.
Loss noted that, at the state level, of the 16 AfD state-level organizations, three are being considered as confirmed extremist groups, six are under surveillance as suspected extremist groups and another one is under investigation. Germany’s Constitutional Court has only banned two political parties since 1949 — the Socialist Reich Party in 1952 and the Communist Party of Germany in 1956.
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