Merz warns of ‘problems’ in Saxony-Anhalt under AfD

High-ranking German politicians have advocated for proceedings to ban the most radical regional branches of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Baden-Württemberg’s state premier, Cem Özdemir, called for bans to be initiated swiftly in a joint guest op-ed in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

“We once again strongly urge that proceedings to ban the party be initiated as soon as possible, with a particular focus on the AfD‘s clearly ethno-nationalist state branches in Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Brandenburg,” Pistorius and Özdemir said.

Their comments come just days before the September 6 election in Saxony-Anhalt, where an AfD victory could result in a far-right party  leading a German state government for the first time since the end of Nazi rule in 1945.

Pistorius and Özdemir argue that it is important to distinguish between different factions within the AfD. 

The two politicians say that the party’s more radical, ethnically based wing rejects the constitutional principle. In their view, this wing should be subject to legal scrutiny.

They refer to this faction of the AfD as “völkisch” — a German adjective derived from das Volk, meaning “the people.” The völkisch movement was an ethno-nationalist movement and precursor to Nazism. Today, the AfD is often accused of holding völkisch views because its officials repeatedly distinguish between Germans with and without a history of migration.

However, Green Party lawmaker Irene Mihalic warned against a selective ban. 

“I see a risk that the idea might eventually take hold that there is an unconstitutional part of the AfD and a constitutional one,” she told the Handelsblatt newspaper. “In my view, it is now clear that the entire AfD is at odds with our democratic constitution.”