7 yıl önce

Germany's populist far-right party headed for Bundestag

The AfD, which is anti-immigration and anti-Islam, is set to become Germany's first hard-right nationalist party to enter parliament in the post-war era.

Reuters

A partly visible election campaign poster of Germanys AfD reads vote AfD as Angela Merkel, German Chancellor and leader of the CDU appears on an advertising board in Bonn, Germany on September 14, 2017.

At first glance, Germany's federal election looks like a done deal – all major polls predict Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives to come in first, a result that should mean no political upheaval in Europe's biggest economy.

But it will be for the first time since WWII that six parties may enter the Bundestag or national parliament, including a group of far-right nationalists.

Unemployment has halved in the 12 years since Merkel became chancellor while the economy is buoyant – the strongest in western Europe.

But her decision to accept over a million refugees in the last three years has angered many, including the right-wing AfD or Alternative for Germany party.

Former Lawyer Alexander Gauland, who was one of its founders, admits the refugee issue has given his party real impetus.

"The wrong policy of the federal government of all parties who have a coalition in the Bundestag have helped our party," said Gauland, an AfD candidate.

While the views of Gauland and others can sit uncomfortably – with a nation that knows the horrors of extreme right-wing politics, his party could become the first right-wing nationalist party in decades to enter the German parliament.

TRT World's Europe correspondent Francis Collings has more from Berlin.