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ELECTION

AfD support falls to lowest level in a year, poll finds

Support for Alternative for Germany (AfD) has fallen to its lowest level since March last year, according to a new poll.

Published: 8 April 2019 08:23 CEST
AfD support falls to lowest level in a year, poll finds
AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland in Berlin on April 4th. Photo: DPA

A survey published on Sunday by the German weekly Bild am Sonntag found the far-right party’s support has fallen to 12 per cent, its worst rating since March 2018.

It follows a drop in popularity at the start of the year, when the party polled at 13 percent in a Bild opinion poll. Surveys since then have shown a similar trend.

SEE ALSO: AfD drops in popularity, Greens and Christian Democrats on the up

The survey paints a contrasting picture to September 2018 when a ‘Deutschlandtrend' survey published by German broadcaster ARD put the AfD at 18 percent. That made them the second strongest party in Germany after the Union.

The newest poll involved asking 2,355 respondents who they'd vote for if national elections were coming up. It was conducted between March 28th and April 3rd.

It came as the AfD, known for its anti-immigration stance, continued to battle a series of controversies.

As The Local reported last week, an investigation claimed that AfD member of parliament Markus Frohnmaier, who is based in Baden-Württemberg, could act as a puppet for Russia.

The BBC conducted the joint investigation into Russian documents together with German magazine Der Spiegel, German TV channel ZDF and the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

The documents dating from 2017 indicate that close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin believed that Frohnmaier, who was elected to the Bundestag Lower house in September that year, was very partial to their strategic interests.

Frohnmaier told the BBC he was not aware of the documents.

SEE ALSO: German AfD MP could be 'absolutely controlled' by Russia

At the weekend, Jörg Meuthen, the AfD's lead candidate for the European Parliament elections, which take place next month, dismissed allegations against his party as conspiracy theories and insisted it has “many good allies” in other European countries.

The party has come under scrutiny recently after it was discovered its co-leader Alice Weidel received more than €130,000 from Switzerland ahead of the 2017 national election — a possible breach of German electoral law.

Meuthen also came under fire over free election ads he and others in the party received from a Swiss-based PR agency.

SEE ALSO: Far-right parties kick off campaigns for Europe election

CDU and SPD gain

Meanwhile, the Bild am Sonntag poll showed support for the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), its Bavarian sister party Christian Socialists (CSU), and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) had risen slightly.

The CDU/CSU parties increased by one point to 31 percent. The SPD also gained one percentage point to achieve 17 percent. But  is still one point behind the Greens (18 percent), who are the second most popular party in Germany, according to the survey

According to the survey, the Left Party (Die Linke) remained stable at 9 percent, while the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) dropped slightly to 8 percent.

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CRIME

German far-right politician fined €13,000 for using Nazi slogan

A German court has convicted one of the country's most controversial far-right politicians, Björn Höcke, of deliberately using a banned Nazi slogan at a rally.

Published: 15 May 2024 08:43 CEST
German far-right politician fined €13,000 for using Nazi slogan

The court fined Höcke, 52, of the far-right AfD party, €13,000 for using the phrase “Alles fuer Deutschland” (“Everything for Germany”) during a 2021 campaign rally.

Once a motto of the so-called Sturmabteilung paramilitary group that played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, the phrase is illegal in modern-day Germany, along with the Nazi salute and other slogans and symbols from that era.

The former high school history teacher claimed not to have been aware that the phrase had been used by the Nazis, telling the court he was “completely not guilty”.

Höcke said he thought the phrase was an “everyday saying”.

But prosecutors argued that Höcke used the phrase in full knowledge of its “origin and meaning”.

They had sought a six-month suspended sentence plus two years’ probation, and a payment of €10,000 to a charitable organisation.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, after the trial, Höcke said the “ability to dissent is in jeopardy”.

“If this verdict stands, free speech will be dead in Germany,” he added.

Höcke, the leader of the AfD in Thuringia, is gunning to become Germany’s first far-right state premier when the state holds regional elections in September.

With the court ordering only a fine rather than a jail term, the verdict is not thought to threaten his candidacy at the elections.

‘AfD scandals’

The trial is one of several controversies the AfD is battling ahead of European Parliament elections in June and regional elections in the autumn in Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony.

Founded in 2013, the anti-Islam and anti-immigration AfD saw a surge in popularity last year – its 10th anniversary – seizing on concerns over rising migration, high inflation and a stumbling economy.

But its support has wavered since the start of 2024, as it contends with scandals including allegations that senior party members were paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website.

Considered an extremist by German intelligence services, Höcke is one of the AfD’s most controversial personalities.

He has called Berlin’s Holocaust monument a “memorial of shame” and urged a “180-degree shift” in the country’s culture of remembrance.

Höcke was convicted of using the banned slogan at an election rally in Merseburg in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in the run-up to Germany’s 2021 federal election.

READ ALSO: How worried should Germany be about the far-right AfD after mass deportation scandal?

He had also been due to stand trial on a second charge of shouting “Everything for…” and inciting the audience to reply “Germany” at an AfD meeting in Thuringia in December.

However, the court decided to separate the proceedings for the second charge, announced earlier this month, because the defence had not had enough time to prepare.

Prosecutor Benedikt Bernzen on Friday underlined the reach of Höcke’s statement, saying that a video of it had been clicked on 21,000 times on the Facebook page of AfD Sachsen-Anhalt alone.

Höcke’s defence lawyer Philip Müller argued the rally was an “insignificant campaign event” and that the offending statement was only brought to the public’s notice by the trial.

Germany’s domestic security agency has labelled the AfD in Thuringia a “confirmed” extremist organisation, along with the party’s regional branches in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.

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