Poll Finds AfD As The Favorite To Win Federal Election
A survey conducted by polling
institute Emnid on Sunday has revealed that AfD is now the strongest party in
East Germany. The poll was about which
German party would turn out to be the favorite in a federal election.
Newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported
that even if the far right AfD is only narrowly ahead with 23 percent against
CDU’s 22 percent, its popularity has grown in East Germany.
Alternative for Germany has overtaken
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
The CDU is ahead of the Left (18
percent), the SPD (14 percent) and the Greens (12 percent). The FDP would only
just reach the parliamentary hurdle with 5 percent.
The results of the poll indicates
that AfD stands a good chance of winning the most number of seats in the states
of Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, which will be a big blow to Merkel.
The party is also predicted to gain
control of dozens of councils in local elections next month.
However, despite their increasing
popularity, AfD members revealed that the number of attacks against their party
have escalated.
“Other parties are afraid that AfD
will get too many votes”, says Berlin regional parliamentary deputy and AfD
member Gunnar Lindemann. “So, they try to fight against our party and our ideas
— of course, not in a good way.”
AfD member Richard Gretzinger told
Sputnik that when their members are beaten up by “left-wingers”, they are
afraid to protect themselves.
“They break our signs,
they pour paint over us. We cannot respond physically, because they will sue
us. But they can do whatever they want — kick us, hit us etc. We call the
police, but they don’t stick around, they tend to leave rather quickly.”
AfD members have chosen to remain
optimistic with the upcoming EU parliamentary and domestic elections as they
continue to reach out to disgruntled voters whose earning power and average
life expectancy still lag behind while state funding goes to migrants.