A prominent German politician has called for a constitutional court to investigate the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, suggesting it may be unconstitutional. Omid Nouripour, the vice president of the German Bundestag and a member of the Green party, wrote in a guest article for the Tagesspiegel newspaper that the AfD’s rhetoric is often xenophobic, racist and anti-democratic and that its actions threaten the very fabric of the German democracy.
Nouripour emphasized that a possible ban on the AfD would not be a political decision, but rather a legal one that could only be made by the country’s highest court. He urged the German government, parliament and federal states to take the necessary steps to initiate the legal process, citing the AfD’s promotion of violence and its attempts to delegitimize democratic elections.
The politician stressed that the decision of the constitutional court would not be a foregone conclusion and that the legal process would likely take time and involve risks. He also rejected the idea that the decision should be influenced by electoral considerations, arguing that the protection of the constitutional order of the Federal Republic of Germany is at stake.