The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is facing growing calls for a ban despite being Germany’s largest opposition group. Sean Gallup/Getty Images
July 6, 2025 | Berlin: The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is now the country’s largest opposition force – gaining traction across the nation and rising in popularity in several recent opinion polls. At one point following the February federal elections, the AfD even surpassed now-Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right CDU in public support, according to data released in March.
However, as the party’s popularity grows, so do efforts to outlaw it. Major political figures and organizations, including members from the Greens and the SPD, are intensifying their calls for a complete ban on the AfD, accusing it of promoting extremist and anti-democratic views that violate the German constitution.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has not ruled out legal measures, stating, “Germany’s democracy must defend itself against those who openly aim to dismantle it from within.” The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution continues its surveillance of AfD elements it deems extremist.
Despite these challenges, the AfD retains solid support in eastern regions of Germany and among segments of the working-class population dissatisfied with mainstream politics. The party claims that any ban effort is an attempt to silence legitimate opposition and stifle democratic discourse.
Legal experts remain divided on whether a ban would succeed in court. Germany’s post-war Basic Law permits party bans only under extreme circumstances, and the last such ban attempt – targeting a neo-Nazi party – failed in 2017.
As the political climate intensifies, Germany now finds itself at a crossroads: how to reconcile democratic freedoms with the protection of democratic values themselves.
Source: CNN
Published by: Wsn 024