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.
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