A survey released a few days ago has caused alarm among leading members of Germany’s traditional parties after it was revealed that support for the far-right AfD party has reached record levels in the country.
According to the monthly survey conducted by infratest dimap and published by public broadcaster ARD, the voting intention for this political force is 18 percent, the same as for the Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
These numbers are alarming when compared to those of 2021, when the ruling party obtained 25.7 percent of the vote, against 10.3 percent for the AfD.
This is a disaster and should be seen as a warning sign for all parties in the center, warned lawmaker Norbert Roettgen of the opposition Christian Democratic Party. His colleague Serap Guler said the strong support received by the AfD should alarm everyone.
Scholz’s three-party coalition with the environmentalist Greens and the Free Democrats faces difficulties due to immigration and a plan to replace heating systems in millions of homes; also a significant part of the population rejects military support for Ukraine.
On the other hand the internal intelligence agency BfV closely monitors AfD and its affiliates because of their ties to extremists and recently warned about the “striking similarities between the present and the 1920s and 1930s, when the rise of extremism and authoritarianism led to the Nazi dictatorship.”
