A significant number of German parliamentarians are in favor of launching a procedure to ban the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, according to a survey conducted by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. At least 124 members of the Bundestag would support a motion to initiate the procedure, the survey found.
Thirteen additional lawmakers expressed openness to the idea, but only under certain conditions, such as if the Bundestag and the states were to discuss the matter in a working group. Of the 479 parliamentarians approached, 176 responded to the survey.
To initiate the procedure, a simple majority of the Bundestag is required, which would be 316 votes if all members were present. The likelihood of reaching this majority depends on the stance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).
In the CDU/CSU faction, only three of the 208 members approached expressed support for the motion, while the majority of respondents declined to comment. In contrast, a significant majority of members in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Green Party and the Left Party were in favor of the motion.
The parliamentary business manager of the CDU, Steffen Bilger, stated that the party’s goal is to achieve a united stance on the issue. “The voters should know what they are getting when they elect the CDU/CSU” he said. “The overwhelming majority of the CDU/CSU faction is certainly still against a ban.”
Although Bilger did not rule out the possibility of a change in the party’s stance, he emphasized that there is no reason to free the lawmakers to make a “conscience decision.” He also noted that the CDU is taking the recent assessment of the domestic intelligence agency, which classified the AfD as a securely extreme-right party, into consideration.
The AfD’s increasing extremism, Bilger said, is a concern and he would not rule out the possibility of a change in the party’s stance in the future.