Alternative for Germany
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Alternative for Germany Alternative für Deutschland | |
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Abbreviation | AfD |
Chairman | Frauke Petry and Jörg Meuthen |
Founded | 6 February 2013 |
Youth wing | Young Alternative for Germany |
Membership (2015) | ![]() |
Ideology | Euroscepticism[2] Conservatism[3] National conservatism[2] Economic liberalism[2] |
Political position | Right-wing[4][5] |
European affiliation | None |
European Parliament group | European Conservatives and Reformists |
International affiliation | None |
Colours | Azure, Red |
Bundestag | 0 / 631 |
State Parliaments | 41 / 1,857 |
European Parliament | 2 / 96 |
Website | |
www | |
The Alternative for Germany (German: Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) is a Eurosceptic[6][7][8][9] and conservative[10][11] German political party founded in 2013. The party won 4.7% of the vote in the 2013 federal election, narrowly missing the 5% electoral threshold to sit in the Bundestag. The party won 7 out of 96 German seats in the 2014 European election, and subsequently joined the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. As of 2015[update] the AfD has gained representation in five German state parliaments. The party is led by Frauke Petry.
History
Founding 2012-2013
In September 2012, Alexander Gauland, Bernd Lucke, a former World Bank economist and Konrad Adam, a former editor of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 1979 to 2000 and chief correspondent of Die Welt until 2008, founded the political group Electoral Alternative 2013 (German: Wahlalternative 2013) in Bad Nauheim, to oppose German federal policies concerning the eurozone crisis. Their manifesto was endorsed by 68 economists, journalists, and business leaders, half of whom were professors and three-quarters of whom had academic degrees.[12] The group stated that the eurozone had proven to be "unsuitable" as a currency area and that southern European states were "sinking into poverty under the competitive pressure of the euro".[13]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Wahlalternative-2013-Logo.svg/220px-Wahlalternative-2013-Logo.svg.png)
Some members of the later AfD sought election in Lower Saxony as the Electoral Alternative 2013 in alliance with the Free Voters, an association participating in local elections without specific federal or foreign policies, and received 1% of the vote.[13][14] In February 2013 the group decided to found a new party to compete in the 2013 federal elections. The Free Voters leadership declined to join forces, according to a leaked email from Bernd Lucke.[15] Advocating the abolition of the Euro, Alternative for Germany (AfD) took a more radical stance than the Free Voters.[16] Likewise, the Pirate Party of Germany opposed any coalition with the AfD at their 2013 spring convention.[17]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Konrad_Adam%2C_Frauke_Petry_und_Bernd_Lucke_2013.jpg/220px-Konrad_Adam%2C_Frauke_Petry_und_Bernd_Lucke_2013.jpg)
The AfD's initial supporters were the same prominent economists, business leaders and journalists who had supported the Electoral Alternative 2013, including former members of the Christian Democratic Union, who had previously challenged the constitutionality of the German government's eurozone policies at the German Constitutional Court.[18][19]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Btw13_afd_zweit_endgueltig.svg/220px-Btw13_afd_zweit_endgueltig.svg.png)
On 14 April 2013, the AfD held its first convention in Berlin, elected the party leadership and adopted a party platform. Bernd Lucke,[20] entrepreneur Frauke Petry and Konrad Adam were elected as speakers.[21] The AfD federal board also chose three deputy speakers, Alexander Gauland, Roland Klaus and Patricia Casale. The party elected treasurer Norbert Stenzel and the three assessors Irina Smirnova, Beatrix Diefenbach and Wolf-Joachim Schünemann. The economist Joachim Starbatty, along with Jörn Kruse, Helga Luckenbach, Dirk Meyer and Roland Vaubel were elected to the party's scientific advisory board. Between 31 March and 12 May 2013 the AfD founded affiliates in all 16 German states in order to participate in the federal elections. On 15 June 2013 the Young Alternative for Germany was founded in Darmstadt as the AfD's youth organisation.[22]
In April 2013, during David Cameron's visit to Germany, the British Conservative Party was reported to have contacted both AfD and the Free Voters to discuss possible cooperation, supported by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group of the European Parliament.[23] In June 2013, Bernd Lucke gave a question and answer session organised by the Conservative Party-allied Bruges Group think tank in Portcullis House, London.[24][25] In a detailed report in the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in April 2013, the paper's Berlin-based political correspondent Majid Sattar revealed that the SPD and CDU had conducted opposition research to blunt the growth and attraction of the AfD.[26][27]
2013 federal election
On 22 September 2013, the AfD won 4.7% of the votes in the 2013 federal election, missing the 5% barrier to enter the Bundestag. The party won about 2 million party list votes and 810,000 constituency votes, which was 1.9% of the total of these votes cast across Germany.[28]
2013 state elections
The AfD did not participate in the 2013 Bavaria state election held on 15 September 2013. The AfD gained its first representation in the state parliament of Hesse with the defection of Jochen Paulus from the Free Democratic Party (FDP) to the AfD in early May 2013,[29] who was not re-elected and left office in January 2014.[30] In the 2013 Hesse state election held on 22 September 2013, the same day as the 2013 federal election, the AfD failed to gain representation in the parliament with 4.0% of the vote.
2014 European Parliament election
In early 2014, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled the proposed 3% vote hurdle for representation in the European elections unconstitutional, and the 2014 European Parliament election became the first run in Germany without a barrier for representation.[31]
The AfD held a party conference on 25 January 2014 at Frankenstolz Arena, Aschaffenburg, northwest Bavaria. The conference chose the slogan Mut zu Deutschland ("Courage [to stand up] for Germany") to replace the former slogan Mut zur Wahrheit ("Courage to speak the truth"),[32] which prompted disagreement among the federal board that the party could be seen as too anti-European. Eventually a compromise was reached by using the slogan "MUT ZU D*EU*TSCHLAND, with the "EU" in "DEUTSCHLAND" encircled by the 12 stars of the European flag.[33] The conference elected the top six candidates for the European elections on 26 January 2014 and met again the following weekend to choose the remaining euro candidates.[32][33][34] Candidates from 7th-28th place on the party list were selected in Berlin on 1 February.[35] Party chairman Bernd Lucke was elected as lead candidate.
In February 2014, AfD officials said they had discussed alliances with Britain's anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP), which Bernd Lucke and the federal board of AfD opposed, and also with the ECR group, to which the British Conservative Party belongs.[36] In April 2014 Hans-Olaf Henkel, AfD's second candidate on the European election list, ruled out forming a group with UKIP after the 2014 European election.[37] stating that he saw the British Conservatives as the preferred partner in the European Parliament.[37] On 10 May 2014 Bernd Lucke had been in talks with the Czech and Polish member parties of ECR group.[38]
In the 25 May 2014 European election, the AfD came in fifth place in Germany, with 7.1% of the national vote (2,065,162 votes), and 7 members of the EU parliament.[39] On 12 June 2014 it was announced that the AfD had been accepted into the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament.[40] The official vote result was not released to the public, but figures of 29 votes for and 26 against were reported by the membership.[40]
2014 state elections
On 31 August 2014, the AfD scored 9.7% of the vote in the Saxony state election,[41] winning 14 seats in the Landtag of Saxony.[42] and on 14 September 2014 they obtained 10.6% of the vote in the Thuringian and 12.2% in the Brandenburg state election, winning 11 seats in both state parliaments.[43]
2015 state elections
On 15 February 2015 AfD won 6.1% of the vote in the 2015 Hamburg state election, gaining the mandate for 8 seats in the Hamburg Parliament,[44] winning their first seats in a western German state.
On 10 May the AfD secured in the 5.5% of the vote in the Bremen state election, 2015 gaining representation in their 5th state parliament on a 50% turnout.[45]
Petry assumes leadership
After months of factional infighting and a cancelled party gathering in June 2015, on 4 July 2015 Frauke Petry was elected as the defacto principal speaker of the party with 60% of the member votes ahead of Bernd Lucke at a party congress in Essen. Petry is a member of the right-wing faction of the AfD.[46] Her leadership was widely seen as heralding a shift of the party to the right, to focus more on issues such as migration, Islam and strengthening ties to Russia.[47] A shift which was claimed by Lucke as turning the party into a "Pegida party".[48] In the following week, 5 MEPs exited the party on 7 July, the only remaining MEPs being Beatrix von Storch and Marcus Pretzell[49] and on 8 July 2015, Lucke announced that he was resigning from the AfD, citing the rise of xenophobic and pro-Russian sentiments in the party.[50]At a meeting of members of the Wake-up call (Weckruf2015) group on 19 July 2015, the founder of the AfD Bernd Lucke and former AfD members announced they would form a new party, the Alliance for Progress and Renewal (ALFA) party under the founding principles of the AfD.[51]
Political orientation
By May 2015 the party became become polarised into two factions, one centred around Bernd Lucke and his core economic policies, and another group who favour a more populist approach.[52]
Policies
In the wake of Petry's leadership the party was expected to adopt a policy platform less focussed on the Euro to something more akin to the right-wing populism seen in other European nations. On her election Petry denied that she was courting the hard right and NPD votes, stating the AfD would tackle all issues of concern to citizens “without taboos” [53]
Party finances
Because the 2013 federal election was the first fought by the party, the AfD had not received any federal funds in the run-up to it,[54] but after receiving 2 million votes it crossed the threshold for party funding and was expected to receive an estimated 1.3 to 1.5 million Euro per year of state subsidies.[55]
Reception
![]() | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2015) |
European affiliations
On 12 June 2014 the AfD was accepted into the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament.[40]
Public image
At the outset Afd presented itself as conservative and middle-class,[56] catering to a well-educated demographic as more than two-thirds of its initial supporters held doctorates.[57] giving it the nickname the "professors' party".[58] The party was described as professors and academics who dislike the compromises inflicted on their purist theories by German party politics.[59] 86% of the party's initial supporters were male,[29] and the AfD membership is often typified as being older and male.[citation needed]
Political extremes
Alternative for Germany party organisers have been sending out the message that they are not trying to attract right-wing populists or radicals.[56] The AfD check applicants for membership to exclude far-right and former National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) members who support the anti-Euro policy (as other mainstream German political parties do).[56][57][60] The party toned down rhetoric on their Facebook page following media allegations that it too closely evoked the language of the far-right.[56][61] Party chairman Bernd Lucke initially defended the choice of words, citing freedom of opinion, and a right to use "strong words", meanwhile he has also said that "The applause is coming from the wrong side" in regards to praise his party gained from the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).[56] Outside the Berlin hotel where the party held its inaugural meeting, it has been alleged that copies of Junge Freiheit, a weekly that is popular with the far-right were being handed out.[62] The Rheinische Post pointed out that some AfD members and supporters write for the Junge Freiheit.[26][63] There was also a protest outside the venue of the party’s inaugural meeting by Andreas Storr, an NPD representative in the Landtag of Saxony, as the NPD sees the AfD as a rival for eurosceptic votes.[64]
An investigation conducted by the internet social analytic company Linkfluence showed little to no similarities in Facebook likes of AfD followers and those of the NPD supporter base.[65] AfD members interests tended towards euroscepticism and direct democracy, while NPD supporters showed interests in anti-Islamification, right-wing rock bands and the German military.[65] An evaluation between the hyperlinks included on AFD local party websites also showed few similarities, with the company's German chief-executive stating "The AfD supporter base and the right-wing extremist scene are digitally very far removed from one another"[65] The analysis did point to AfD members favouring links with right-wing populist reactionary conservative content.[65] The AfD's desire to break consensus-based politics and oppose political correctness as undermining freedom of speech, does lend it kudos as a legitimate mouthpiece for right-wing populism among some of the party membership and on regional AfD websites, which contrasts with the intellectual character of the party hierarchy.[65]
Left-wing criticism of the party took a more hardened tone over the late summer 2013,[citation needed] with an array of political activists from far-left anti-fascist anarchists to the mainstream Green Party accusing it of pandering to xenophobic and nationalistic sentiments.[66] This ultimately led to the AfD complaining over incidents of verbal abuse and violence to its campaigners in Berlin, Lubeck, Nuremberg and the university city of Göttingen.[66] Incidents in Göttingen flared after a party conference on 1 August, with police intervening later in the month in an attempted garage arson attack (in which there was said to be a car filled with AfD campaign literature) and to break up a dispute between the AfD and members of the Green Youth.[66] Party leader Bernd Lucke described the events as a "slap in the face for every person who supports democracy" with the party in Lower Saxony left questioning whether to abandon their campaign in the state as local pub and restaurant owners denied the party access to their venues fearing for their businesses.[66]
On 24 August 2013, Lucke and 16 other party members were reported to have been attacked in Bremen by opponents who used pepper spray and pushed Lucke from the stage. Initial reports by party officials and the police suggested that they were left-wing extremists and that about 8 out of 20–25 attackers had succeeded in getting on to the stage. It was reported that a campaign worker had been cut with a knife. Later the police indicated that the number of people was probably around 10, of whom only 2 were known to have gained access to the stage, that only one of the opponents was known to be a left wing activist, and that the minor cut sustained by a campaign worker was probably not caused by a knife and was incurred later when attempting to apprehend a fleeing attacker.[67][68]
Following the German Federal Election 2013 the anti-Islam, German Freedom Party unilaterally pledged to support Alternative for Germany in the 2014 elections and concentrate its efforts on local elections only.[69] Bernd Lucke responded by saying the recommendation was unwelcome and sent a letter to party associations recommending a hiring freeze.[70] Earlier in September, Lucke described the Freedom Party members as coming from two camps, one of extreme Islam critics and populists, the other, ordinary democrats who were joining the AfD.[69] Co-operation with the Freedom Party remains controversial within the ranks of the AfD,[70] with some German state associations conducting vetting interviews with former Freedom Party members.[69]
On 19 February 2015, Frauke Petry gained controversy after she stated that "normal" (allegedly referring to heterosexual) families should be protected in schools and questioned if homophobia is a real problem in schools.[71]
AfD MEP Beatrix Von Storch is a known opponent of same-sex marriage.[72] She panned school gay youth networks as using "forced sexualization" on their students.
PEGIDA
In response to the far-right PEGIDA movement and demonstrations the party has been somewhat incohesive, with Lucke describing the movement as, "a sign that these people do not feel their concerns are understood by politicians."[73] Alexander Gauland stated that the AfD are "natural allies of this movement" in response to the CDU Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere alleging that that there is an "overlap" between PEGIDA rallies and the AfD.[74] Though Hans-Olaf Henkel asked members of the party to not join the demonstrations, stating that he believed he could not rule out that they had "xenophobic or even racist connotations" to Der Tagesspiegel.[73] A straw poll by The Economist found 9 out of 10 PEGIDA protesters would back the AfD.[75]
Junge Alternative youth organisation
The Junge Alternative für Deutschland, JA (Young Alternative for Germany) was founded on 15 June 2013 in Darmstadt. The JA is open to people aged 14 to 35 years, and sees itself as a youth organisation of the AfD but is legally and organisationally an independent body from the AfD party.[22]
In view of the JA's independence it has been regarded by the AfD hierarchy as being somewhat wayward.[76] With the JA repeatedly accused of being "too far right,"[77] politically regressive and anti-feminist among the German media.[76]
- In late March 2014, The Junge Alternative hosted Nigel Farage who had been invited to address the party's North Rhine-Westphalia organisation in Cologne.[78] The invitation is alleged to have caused some trouble within the AfD itself over the youth wing’s unauthorized invitation of Farage, with the regional association and the youth wing wanting to stress their independence.[79] The invitation was contrary to a decision of the AfD National Executive whose policy is that official contact with foreign parties is decided only by the federal executive.[77] Nigel Farage's presence apparently led to a deterioration in relations with Bernd Lucke, the AfD leader, who called the move a "sign of poor political tact."[76] The Nigel Farage event received largely negative headlines in the German media.[76]
- The JA launched an feminist-critical campaign entitled "Gleichberechtigung statt Gleichmacherei" (variously translated as "equal rights, not levelling down" or "equality instead of uniformity") on Facebook in response to the young Social Democrats, who posted photos supportive of feminism to mark International Women's Day. The Facebook page of JA describes feminism as a "left-wing" ideology, and asks people to post reasons to reject it.[80] With the JA also citing opposition to gender quota proposals in Germany for women as a motivation.[81] The campaign was described in less than flattering terms by the Rheinische Post.[82][83] Sections of the German media also labelled election campaign material of the JA which showed women in swimwear under the slogan "equality instead of uniformity" as sexist and in bad taste.[76] The JA followed with a poster of four shirtless men under the slogan "end soft justice".[76]
- In May 2014 The JA is said to have further irritated AfD bosses with a statement they released on Facebook advocating vigilante action against crime.[84]
Tables of election results
- Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
Election year | No. of constituency votes |
No. of party list votes |
% of party list votes |
No. of overall seats won |
+/– |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | 810,915 | 2,056,985 | 4.7 | 0 / 631
|
- European Parliament
Election year | No. of overall votes |
% of overall vote & ranking |
No. of overall seats won |
+/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | 2,070,014 | 7.1 (#5) | 7 / 96
|
- State Parliament (Landtag)
State election, year | No. of overall votes |
% of overall vote & ranking |
No. of overall seats won |
+/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hesse, 2013 | 126,906 | 4.1 (#6) | 0 / 110
|
|
Saxony, 2014 | 159,611 | 9.7 (#4) | 14 / 126
|
|
Thuringia, 2014 | 99,548 | 10.6 (#4) | 11 / 91
|
|
Brandenburg, 2014 | 119,989 | 12.2 (#4) | 11 / 88
|
|
Hamburg, 2015 | 214,833 | 6.1 (#6) | 8 / 121
|
|
Bremen, 2015 | ? | 5.5 (#6) | 4 / 83
|
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{{cite news}}
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- ^ "Polizei relativiert Angaben zu Angriff auf AfD" (in German). 6 September 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
- ^ a b c Hebel, Christina (1 October 2013). ""Die Freiheit": Anti-Islam-Partei will sich der AfD anschließen". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ a b Leber, Fabian (1 October 2013). "Alternative für Deutschland und "Die Freiheit" Islamkritiker empfehlen jetzt die AfD". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ http://www.queer.de/detail.php?article_id=23249
- ^ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/12/alternative-deutschland-german-afd-politics-europe
- ^ a b Huggler, Justin (10 December 2014). "German Eurosceptics embrace anti-Islam protests". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ Withnall, Adam (15 December 2014). "Germany sees 'visible rise' in support for far-right extremism in response to perceived 'Islamisation' of the West". Independent. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
- ^ "How anti-foreigner anti-establishment group changing german politics gone boy right". The Economist. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Lamparski, NIna (12 May 2014). "Germany's youth rebels against EU". BBC News. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ a b Krass, Sebastian (31 March 2014). "Zu weit rechts". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ "Junge Alternative: Nigel Farage zu Gast in Köln". Eigenmütlich Frei Magazine (in German). 19 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
- ^ Weingärtner, Daniela (4 April). "March of the populists". The German Times. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - ^ White, J. Arthur (31 March 2014). "Anti-euro party turns anti-feminist". The Local (de). Retrieved 11 May 2014.
- ^ "Anti-feminist campaign targets German gender quota proposal". Al Jazeera. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ "Germany's Eurosceptic AfD meets to define party platform". Euractive. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ "Die junge AfD hat Probleme mit dem Feminismus". RP Online (in German). 18 March 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ Wagstyl, Stefan (22 May 2014). "Germany's anti-euro party AfD breaks national taboos". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
Further reading
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Official website
(in German)
- Alternative for Germany: Content in English
- Alternative for Germany: Manifesto for the 2014 European Elections, summary version (in English).
- Alternative for Germany: Manifesto for the 2014 European Elections, detailed version (in English).
- Alternative for Germany: FAQ (in English)