Germany’s right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland party, or AfD, is on course for a stunning result in Sunday’s German election, with reports indicating one-in-five voters supported the party.
As polls closed at noon on Sunday, the party which has received the public backing of MAGA backers including Elon Musk and JD Vance looked set to finish second in the overall results, following fury in the country over immigration and persistent recession.
In an exit poll, the AfD came second with 19.5% of the vote, behind the conservative CDU/CSU voting bloc with 29%.
That represents a 9.1% increase on the last election results and would push the ruling left-wing SDP into third with just 16% of the vote.
Speaking after the exit poll was announced, the AfD’s leader, Alice Weidel, told cheering supporters the movement was now a “mainstream” party.
Under Germany’s electoral system, the center-right Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) will be asked to form a coalition government.
The party had previously said it would not join with AfD over the latter’s controversial stance on immigration. AfD, however, believes now is the time to shine.
“Our hand remains outstretched to form a government,” Weidel told supporters on Sunday, adding that if the conservatives ignored the will of the people by refusing to enter a coalition with them, the AfD would be the biggest party next time around.
Ten years on from Berlin’s “Refugees Welcome” message in 2015, when a record 2.1 million people immigrated to Germany, public attitudes toward the issue have hardened.
Just under half of all asylum seekers in the European Union in the past decade have been taken in by Germany, and a series of high-profile fatal attacks reportedly carried out by immigrants have fueled support for the AfD.
In the most recent case, an Afghan man attacked a kindergarten group, leaving two dead including a 2-year-old boy, in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg.
