Who are the AfD? Far-right populists to enter German Parliament for first time since WW2 THE AFD are set to become the first far-right populist party to enter the German Bundestag since the Second World War. But who are the AfD? “It tells us that German is not immune to populism or the far right, despite its history,” she said, noting that immigration was a key issue. Ms Mansfield said there is still an “appetite for these views” despite the other German election parties seeing the AfD as “beyond the pale”. No other far-right party has passed the five per cent threshold to enter the German Bundestag since the defeat of the Nazis at the end of World War Two. Professor Simon Green, of Aston University in Birmingham, described the AfD are a somewhat dysfunctional group that is part of wave of populism across Europe. “For the first time since 1945 you’re going to have a fairly right-wing party in the parliament, and they’re potentially going to be the third-largest party,” he said. “The argument that populism had been defeated following the Austrian, French and Dutch elections is premature. In Germany we have a dysfunctional popular party.” It comes after the wave of anti-EU populism seemed ebb after Marine Le Pen lost the French election and Geert Wilders was defeated in the Dutch election. AfD leader Frauke Petry decided against standing as lead candidate in the German election race, making way for the top candidates Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland.
The Eurosceptic party was formed by academics in opposition to the eurozone bailout to Greece in the middle of the Eurozone crisis. Despite some success in the 2013 federal election and state elections, the party splintered due to internal divisions in mid-2015. But the party then transformed itself into an anti-Islam anti-migrant nationalist party as the European migrant crisis took hold in 2015.Despite controversy over links to Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, the AfD managed to finish second and third in state elections last year. The AfD rocked the political establishment by finishing ahead of Mrs Merkel’s centre-right CDU in elections in her home state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) are on track to beat Martin Schulz’s Social Democrats (SPD) in the German election race. The latest polls show the AfD are on track to finish third but none of the other parties are winning to form a coalition with it. If the CDU/CSU and the SPD form another grand coalition, the AFD will be the lead opposition party in the German Bundestag. But the SPD will be the lead opposite party if Mrs Merkel’s Conservative bloc forms a coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP). Becoming the third largest party in the German Bundestag is set to be an astounding achievement for the AfD which was formed in 2013. . 00FastNews. Please Subscribe!