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Photo: EPA
Dr. Frauke Petry, head of AfD
Photo: EPA

Head of Jewish community in Germany 'frightened' by rise of the extreme right

Discussing the recent gains and expected success of the right-wing AfD, Josef Schuster has described the situation as 'frightening'; both he and Angela Merkel don't see the party as proposing any solutions.

Berlin — Israeli-born President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Dr. Josef Schuster described as "frightening" the rise in support for the populist right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is poised to achieve record numbers in the upcoming regional elections

 

 

"I find it frightening," he said in an interview with AFP. "The voters don't realize that they're going to vote for a party that doesn't want to differentiate itself from the extreme right."

 

According to him, the party has grown considerably over the past year, and Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to welcome masses of refugees "only presents slogans and no solution."

 

 

Dr. Frauke Petry, head of AfD (Photo: EPA)
Dr. Frauke Petry, head of AfD (Photo: EPA)

 

On Sunday's regional elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (northeast), the AfD could emerge as the second largest party, ahead of Merkel's CDU, obtaining 20 to 25% of the vote. In Berlin, where elections are to take place on September 18, the AfD is expected to obtain 14% of the votes.

 

The chancellor has increased in recent days calls to voters to turn away from the populist party.

 

"I want to encourage people to go vote and to vote for the parties that offer solutions to problems. AfD, to me, is not one of them," said Merkel in a televised interview on Friday.

 

AfD, which was founded as an anti-euro movement, has adopted an anti-Islam and anti-migrant discourse with the arrival in Germany of a million asylum-seekers in 2015. It has already had a series of electoral successes this year.

 

Since 1945, no extreme-right or populist party has managed to permanently establish itself on the German political landscape. In recent months, the polls for the legislative elections, expected for the fall of 2017, have AfD coming in with 10 to 15% of the vote.

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.02.16, 18:52
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