Germany’s far-right AfD tops poll for first time in blow to chancellor-in-waiting Merz
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Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)'s nominee for vice-president of the Bundestag Gerold Otten (centre), flanked by AfD co-leaders Tino Chrupalla (left) and Alice Weidel, at an inaugural session of Germany's lower house of parliament in March.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BERLIN - Germany’s far-right AfD party topped a major poll for the first time on April 9 in a sign of growing dissatisfaction with mainstream parties as chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz seeks to seal a coalition government deal.
Support for Mr Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc, which won the Feb 23 election, fell by five percentage points to 24 per cent while the Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained three points to land on 25 per cent, according to the Ipsos institute’s poll.
The AfD came second in the election, the best performance by a far-right party since World War II.
Its polling strength is a setback for Mr Merz’s conservative alliance, which wanted to win back voters from the party.
The Ipsos poll showed support for outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) unchanged at 15 per cent.
The centre-left SPD are in talks with the CDU/CSU to form Germany’s next government, with the two sides forced to iron out their differences in policy areas such as tax and migration to keep the far right out of power.
The talks are expected to conclude later on April 9, sources told Reuters.
AfD leader Alice Weidel hailed her party’s polling breakthrough in a post on X. “The people want political change - and not a ‘business as usual’ coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD,” she wrote. REUTERS
