Support for the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is surging in Brandenburg ahead of the State’s parliament elections this month, data gathered by pollster Infratest dimap has found.
Published on September 6, the survey also showed that support for the country’s Greens had dropped to 5 per cent — down 2 per cent on August — meaning the party risks elimination from the region’s parliament under electoral threshold rules.
As things stand, the AfD looks likely to come first in the September 22 vote with 27 per cent support, up 4 per cent on the previous August survey.
It is followed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), which is also up 4 per cent from the previous poll, now sitting at 23 per cent support.
Other centrist parties have fallen back. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) sits at 18 per cent, down 1 per cent.
Also down is the populist left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which has dropped by 2 per cent to 15 per cent.
AfD’s rise came after its successes in both Thuringia and Saxony on September 1, with the party outperforming expectations to finish with more than 30 per cent support.
Although this result saw the party come in first and second place, respectively, it appears unlikely to enter into government as every other group has vowed not to work with them.
Its success is still likely to have a political impact, with the AfD’s Thuringia result giving the party a blocking minority in the State.
As a result, certain official actions there, such as the appointment of judicial and security personnel, cannot go ahead without AfD support.