The populist Alternative for Germany party has overtaken the left-wing Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Sholz in popular support, as the German government continues to lose ground amid failures on energy, cost of living, and the war in Ukraine.
In the survey conducted by polling institute Forsa, the right-wing populist AfD party has surged for the first time in its history to second place in the rankings of political parties, surpassing Chancellor Scholz’s SPD, which has seen a decline in its support among the populace amid sky-high inflation, soaring energy costs.
According to the weekly trend barometer, Alternative for Germany now enjoys 19 per cent support, compared to the Social Democrat Party at 18 per cent, and its government coalition partners the Greens and the neo-liberal Free Democrats at 14 and 7 per cent respectively, broadcaster NTV reports.
Should an election for the German Bundestag (parliament) occur this week, however, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), would be the largest party in the country.
If the CDU, which was formerly run by ex-Chacnellor Angela Merkel, form a coalition with the AfD, they would be able to overtake the current coalition government in support.
Yet, at present, this is still unlikely, given that the CDU has, alongside all other major parties, refused to work with the populist party under a so-called “cordon sanitaire” over what the Berlin establishment considers ‘far-right’ positions, particularly on mass migration.
Nevertheless, the rise of the AfD has sent tremours of fear among the political elites in the country, with it signifying that there is growing resentment against the out-of-touch leadership from the ‘traffic light’ coalition government, which has forged ahead with its radical green agenda despite the energy crisis which was borne largely out of disputes with Russia over Ukraine and the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines. The impact on Germans was compounded by the cost of living crisis, which began in the wake of coronavirus lockdowns and the ensuing breakdown in supply chains.
Rather than addressing the concerns of the people, including mass migration, which has only exacerbated the cost of living crisis, the Berlin establishment has instead argued for a ban on the AfD in order to prevent its rise as a political force in the country.
Last week, the German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR), a progressive organisation fully funded by the government, told parliamentarians that a ban against the AfD would be justified, arguing that the populist party is against the “free democratic basic order” and made the highly incindiary claim that the party’s ideology “is based on the tyranny of National Socialism”.
Speaking to Breitbart London, AfD MEP Dr Gunnar Beck said that although he felt that a ban on the party “would stand no chance” in holding up in court, he said: “The fact that the AfD is not being insulted directly by the state, but by a state-funded association, represents a new chapter in the interventions in the democratic decision-making process.”