A motion to ban the populist anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is set to be introduced into the German parliament by a coalition of leftist parties.
Forty MPs from four different parties—the Christian Democrats, the Left Party, the Greens and the Social Democrats—will put forward the motion, claiming the AfD is a “threat to democracy.”
The motion has been drawn up by Christian Democrat politician Marco Wanderwitz, RXM News reports. Wanderwitz lost his seat to an AfD politician and has only remained in parliament thanks to electioneering by the Christian Democrats. He has been working on the motion for over a year.
Wanderwitz had struggled to get the requisite 37 signatures needed to bring his motion, but after the AfD’s stunning recent electoral gains, he has found support more forthcoming.
It’s unclear whether the motion will find support from a majority of members of the German parliament.
Some leftist politicians refuse to support a ban simply because they fear the Federal Constitutional Court will strike such a ruling down. They fear such open persecution could backfire and actually increase support for the AfD.
RMX News notes that the proposed ban would make Germany the only Western country to criminalize a major opposition party.
“Although such actions are routine in non-democratic nations, it would mark a dark day in German history and point to the rise of fascism and a party oligarchy in the country once again,” RMX notes.
Alternatives to an outright ban include cutting federal funding to the party, which could prevent it from organising rallies and paying employees.
The AfD’s rise has alarmed Germany’s complacent left-liberal elite, especially the party’s massive popularity among the young.
In recent election in the states of Saxony and Thuringia, the AfD smashed the ruling left coalition. In Thuringia, it won the votes of 37% of 18-24 year olds.