Chancellor Merz vows to fight extremism after AfD success — Al Jazeera

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he would fight political extremism following the electoral successes of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the Left Party. He said this on October 7 at an event in Berlin, Al Jazeera reports.

According to Merz, extremism is increasingly making its way into the country’s parliaments. He noted that countering it is a task for society as a whole, and one he intends to take part in.

The chancellor also said that voting for the AfD means playing into the hands of extremists and undermines trust. According to him, this is incompatible with the values of his Christian Democratic Union.

AfD result in Saxony-Anhalt

An AfD representative was elected speaker of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament. In the September 6 election in the eastern German state, the AfD came first, but fell three seats short of the absolute majority sought by the party’s candidate, Ulrich Siegmund.

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The AfD was founded in 2013 as a Eurosceptic movement. After around one million refugees arrived in Germany in 2015, many of them fleeing the war in Syria, the party hardened its stance on immigration. Most of Germany’s traditional parties have said they will not enter coalitions with the AfD.

Left Party victory in Berlin

Another defeat for the Christian Democrats came in the Berlin election on September 20, won by the Left Party. Its lead candidate, Elif Eralp, campaigned against the backdrop of high housing costs in the German capital and promised to nationalize private housing associations, which account for a significant share of the city’s housing stock.

The Left Party’s result was almost twice its previous showing and could make Eralp the first mayor of Berlin from this political force. In a 2021 referendum, 58% of participants supported a proposal to nationalize such associations.

In early October, a poll by public broadcaster ARD showed that only one in 10 respondents was satisfied or very satisfied with Merz’s work. The next major electoral test for the chancellor will be elections to the North Rhine-Westphalia parliament, scheduled for April.