Germany Reopens AfD Ban Debate Before 2 Eastern Elections as Polls Put Party Near Power
Updated
Updated · EL PAÍS USA · Aug 17
Germany Reopens AfD Ban Debate Before 2 Eastern Elections as Polls Put Party Near Power
3 articles · Updated · EL PAÍS USA · Aug 17
Summary
September elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have revived Germany’s debate over banning AfD, with polls giving the far-right party a chance to govern for the first time.
2,500 pieces of evidence compiled by the GFF and a July letter signed by more than 1,000 jurists argue AfD seeks to dismantle the democratic order and persecute opponents, minorities and LGBTQ+ people.
The SPD has embraced that case, but Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU opposes taking AfD to the Constitutional Court, leaving no parliamentary majority for a ban request despite only a simple Bundestag majority being needed.
2017’s failed bid to ban the neo-Nazi-linked NPD underscores the legal hurdle: courts require not just extremist views but a concrete threat, and a February ruling said anti-democratic efforts in AfD were not proven partywide.
Critics of a ban warn it could strengthen AfD’s victim narrative and would not erase the anti-democratic attitudes of millions of voters even if the party were dissolved.