Concern, controversy and triumph- the rise of the AfD party and why they threaten democracy

As per usual, 2025 has been a chaotic year of ups and downs for Alternative für Deutschland, strung together with a great deal of controversy. The German party shocked the world when they pipped the SPD to become federal election runners-up in February, doubling their votes from four years prior, strengthening their grip on the east, and continuing their upwards trend in the west.

Questions then began to arise in early May over who exactly one-fifth of the nation chose to lead them however, as the AfD were officially classified as extreme-right by German intelligence. To top it all off, it emerged a few days ago that the party have almost tripled their share of votes in the local election of critical region North Rhine-Westphalia, making it clear to all that the AfD’s attention shift to the West is now reaping sweet rewards.

It’s now certainly feasible that we see the extreme-right party in power by 2029, which is an image many will find concerning, if not terrifying. The unifying nature of populism appears to be masking views and ideas that go against the very values of the west, creating a scenario where the far-right can rule in Germany once again. History tells us that this is not an exciting prospect.

On the 6^th of February 2013, Alternative für Deutschland were founded as an anti-European Union party. In the turbulent, controversial, change-filled years since, they’ve radicalised to become an extreme right-wing party, embracing immigration-based populist policies, whilst their leaders spout far-right rhetoric.

Many of the 80% of Germans that didn’t vote for the AfD may strictly dislike the party, however few would argue that they haven’t been successful. By their first federal election in 2017, they were already providing a stern test to the winners, CDU/CSU, not only taking 12.6% of the turnout, but also a considerable portion of the centre-right party’s previous voters, who’d been attracted by a hard-line stance on immigration.

On the surface, 10.3% of the vote in 2021 may look like failure compared to their whirlwind 2017 entrance to the Bundestag, however the AfD crucially strengthened their base in the east, providing secure grounding for future success.

2025 was the year that the world truly began to stand up and take notice of the party. Now led by Weidel and Chrupalla, they swept up a fifth of the turnout, providing the centre-left SPD with one of their worst election nights in history. Despite then being overlooked by the CDU/CSU for a coalition, the AfD now have 152 seats in the Bundestag, whilst recent polls are suggesting that by 2029, they may have the support to win the election itself.

It’s worth pointing out however, that the success of Alternative für Deutschland somewhat sugar-coats the party as something positive and exciting. In reality, that is not the case. The AfD and its members have flirted with racism and used nationalist rhetoric throughout election campaigns, singling out sections of the population for criticism and hate.

Co-chairman Alexander Gauland’s method of describing the AfD’s response was “fighting off an invasion of foreigners”, and the party have made this particular issue their focus. During the 2015 migrant influx, they worked with the Pegida movement, which staged weekly marches across Germany in response to what it called “the Islamisation of the West”. These protests took hold mainly in eastern cities such as Dresden, which is also where the AfD have so far been most successful- the biggest concentrations of migrants is also in this area.

Alternative für Deutschland also adopted some of Pegida’s anti-establishment rhetoric, such as the slogan “Lugenpresse” (lying press), which was used by the Nazi party. Additionally, they say that Germany should reintroduce permanent border controls, and that the EU’s external borders must be completely shut- contradicting the Schengen agreement. Former leader Frauke Petry (who was somehow seen as a moderate), once said that “if necessary”, the German police should shoot at migrants trying to enter the nation illegally. The AfD also maintain that they would seek to abandon the euro and reintroduce the Deutschmark. Widespread change is a common theme in the party’s manifesto- they say that should the EU fail to reform, and continue centralising, they would seek to pull Germany out of the union.

Perhaps the most shocking example so far of Alternative für Deutschland’s extreme views is their 2017 election manifesto. A year prior, the AfD adopted an explicit, terrifying anti-Islam policy- if in power, they say they would ban foreign funding of mosques, outlaw the burka, prohibit the Muslim call for prayer, and put all imams through a state vetting procedure. The manifesto itself had a section on why “Islam does not belong to Germany”- “Burkas? We like bikinis” read one of its most garish posters.

For many the AfD’s attitude towards Germany’s Muslim population may be a little too similar to the early Nazi outlook on Jews for comfort. They have openly expressed a desire to blatantly disrupt and censor the harmless Muslim way of life, by preventing them from doing things they believe are essential to their religion. Startlingly, they appear to have an over-the-top vision of what a German person is/should be, and are unafraid to put measures in place to ensure that.

Obviously, Alternative für Deutschland are nowhere near the evil of the Nazi party, however this slight resemblance has created some of their biggest controversies. The AfD’s leader in Thuringia, Bjorn Hocke, once described Berlin’s holocaust memorial as a “memorial of shame”, calling for a “180-degree turnaround” in Germany’s handling of its Nazi past. Co-chairman Alexander Gauland trivialised the Nazi era as “just a speck of bird’s muck in more than 1000 years of successful history”. Former chairwoman Frauke Petry once attempted to end the taboo on the Nazi-era term volkisch, which originally came from the German word for people, but was hijacked by the Nazis to define those who belonged to their “master race”.

Handfuls of AfD members have chosen to leave the party throughout the last ten years due to its dangerous move right. Its first leader, Bernd Lucke, left in 2015, arguing that it was becoming increasingly xenophobic, whilst moderate MP Verenna Hartmann left the party in January 2020 saying that “those who resist this extreme right-wing movement are mercilessly pushed out of the party”. Despite its relatively short history, Alternative für Deutschland’s leadership has gone through turbulent and regular changes- amongst the best known (often for the wrong reasons), are honorary chairman Alexander Gauland, Thuringia branch chairman Bjorn Hocke, and current co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla.

Alice Weidel is the current figurehead of Alternative für Deutschland. She is a 46-year-old economist and member of the Bundestag, who has served as AfD parliamentary group leader since October 2017. From June 2022, she has also been co-chairwoman and co-leader of the party along with Tino Chrupalla, acting as the main voice of the far-right group.

However, Weidel is a surprisingly unusual fit for spearheading Germany’s extreme-right, populist, nationalist movement. She is a lesbian with a Sri Lankan partner, and splits her time between Berlin and Switzerland (odd for a party that obsesses about its love for Germany). Additionally, Weidel is from the west, whilst the AfD has always had much more appeal in the east.

The AfD’s other co-leader is Tino Chrupalla. Despite being surrounded by less controversy than many other key figures, he is the main spokesman for the party, and a big advocate for better border security and a return to “traditional” Germany. Chrupalla was initially a man of the centre-right, and voted for the CDU/CSU party, however he soon become dissatisfied with their immigration and European policies- he then joined the AfD in 2015, eventually progressing to become co-leader in 2021. The co-chairman is a strong figure of eastern Germany, having been born there, and often remembers his childhood and the region’s sense of unity fondly.

Alexander Gauland has already worked his way into this article on a few occasions, mainly for the wrong reasons. The 78-year-old lawyer was a founder of Alternative für Deutschland, serving as leader for much of the last decade, before stepping back to his current role as honorary chairman. Gauland has been with the party since its Eurosceptic start, however his political career extends decades prior with the centre-right.

Despite this, he has intently followed the AfD’s rightwards movement, verging into pure racist rhetoric and remarks. In 2016, he talked about national team footballer Jerome Boateng, who was born in Berlin to a Ghanian father- “[Germans] like him as a football player. But they don’t want to have Boateng as their neighbour”.

Over in Thuringia may be an even more controversial Alternative für Deutschland member- regional chair Bjorn Hocke. He has been found guilty of knowingly using the slogan “Everything for Germany” in at a rally in 2021, a phrase usually associated with Nazi stormtroopers. After his criticism of Berlin’s holocaust memorial, the AfD moved to expel him but appeared to change its mind. Hocke also helped trigger a national crisis in February 2020 after he helped a liberal candidate become state premier in Thuringia- that was the first time since the Second World War that someone of the far-right had played kingmaker in German politics.

The rise of the AfD has been controversial, often concerning, but admittedly quite impressive. The far-right has experienced a huge growth of popularity across Europe throughout the last decade, and in Germany many of the reasons for this are clear.

Alternative für Deutschland’s populist nature means that they’ve been able to capitalise on the “issues” seen by society, by pledging to solve them. Similarly, to Reform in the UK, immigration, the European Union and public service problems have become bread and butter topics for the AfD. Weidel’s party have met them head on with hard-line stances, offering Germany’s people a clear indication that the AfD could significantly improve their lives.

Dissatisfaction with conventional, major parties has been the result of these issues, creating a gaping hole for the AfD to fill- they’ve been able to attract voters from not only the centre-right, but also the centre-left. The CDU/CSU found themselves at a crossroads following Merkel’s departure, and whilst Olaf Scholz appeared to narrowly capitalise on this in the 2021 election, the SPD then experienced one of their worst nights in history in 2025.

Crucially, what the AfD have been able to offer the German people is in their name. They are indeed an alternative- they provide something different to the conventional, another option when all else is failing. Nationalist rhetoric has helped them strengthen a now iron grip on the East, and whilst the CDU/CSU clearly came out on top in the west in 2025, the transition from centre-right to right-wing has so far not appeared a difficult one. Even the SPD are losing their grasp on their industrial North Rhine-Westphalia heartland.

The metaphorical Brandmauer firewall has stood since the reign of Adolf Hitler, notably outlasting its phycisial Berlin counterpart. Despite this, many are now beginning to question whether cracks are beginning to form in its once strong layers of brick. Brandmauer is an unofficial rule meaning that Germany’s conventional parties are unable to negotiate with the far-right, in order to maintain diplomacy, with the past in mind. However, the rise of the AfD puts strain on this wall, given that they may soon be a key player in forming coalitions, in order to achieve a majority in Germany’s proportional representation system.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz almost immediately ruled out a coalition with the AfD after his 2025 election win, and ended up freezing out the party, after forming a surprising agreement with perennial rivals, and 2025 underachievers, the Social Democratic Party.

This willingness to side with a historic rival “for the greater good” highlights that the Brandmauer may very well still be intact, however this is counteracted by Merz being slightly hypocritical, as he has previously flirted with the AfD in parliament in order to form various laws, notably surrounding immigration. Tino Chrupalla stated that “anyone who erects firewalls will get grilled behind them”. In other words, Alternative für Deutschland’s rapid emergence to become a big contender in German politics could mean that the nation’s major parties may now have to break a rule that was created in response to the horrific dominance of the Nazi party.

On the surface, 2025 looks like a year of immeasurable success for Alternative für Deutschland. However, just below it, drastic and threatening issues may be brewing for the party. May brought about the culmination of a decade of controversy, concerning views and rightwards movement- the German Intelligence Agency officially classified the AfD as extreme right.

This mars the federal election success and provides a not-so-subtle footnote of doubt heading into the future. Response to the decision has been mixed- many rivals in Germany have called for further action, a ban on a party see as a threat to democracy, whilst others see the verdict as an attack on democracy in itself.

Alternative für Deutschland has attracted support from members of the Trump administration (possibly saying more about the nature of MAGA than the AfD). Nine days before the federal election, vice-president JD Vance met with Weidel in Munich, declaring that there is no place for “firewalls” in German politics, alleging that free speech is on retreat in Europe as a whole.

Elon Musk gave Weidel a long audience in a livestreamed X chat and called for Germans to vote for the AfD- he then repeatedly posted his support for the party in the campaign run-in. The tech billionaire then stated that banning the “centrist AfD” would be “an extreme attack on democracy”. Secretary of state Marco Rubio has also been keen to express his view on the matter, blasting the Intelligence Agency’s legitimacy, saying “that’s not democracy- it’s tyranny in disguise”.

The response of the German Foreign Office to Republican politician’s scathing criticism has been to bite back. They retorted on X “this is democracy. We have learnt from our history that right-wing extremism needs to be stopped”. A key part of the Foreign Office’s role is ensuring the nation’s “free democratic order”, which has led to some push for a ban, however this is not within their powers. It must instead go through two houses of parliament, government, or the constitutional court.

The Intelligence Agency has said that the AfD does not consider citizens of a “migration background from predominantly Muslim countries” as equal members of the German people. There’s pretty damning evidence to suggest this is true- it seems that an in-power Alternative für Deutschland party would be intent on disrupting the Islamic way of life, neglecting them for what they see a citizen of Germany being or doing. Their attitude towards the nation’s Muslim population infers that they see the faith itself and its people as inferior to others, leading to them to enforce an alternative way of life.

Whether it is truly democratic or not, perhaps there are some things that need to be stopped to ensure the preservation of democracy itself. The AfD have conducted themselves in an unacceptable manner, and have views that many would see as concerning, if not terrifying. Circumstance means that they’ve experienced a rapid rise towards the peak of German politics, and it appears that they are ready to take the huge next step to win in 2029. From what we’ve seen so far from Alternative für Deutschland, their reign could bring harm to many people’s way of life.

What is most frightening of all, is that history teaches us that parties of their nature never lead to positive outcomes.

Thanks for reading my latest blog post on Your World Explored by me, Lewis Defraine. Feel free to offer your support, or even constructive criticism in the comments section below. A like would be greatly appreciated, and if you’d like to receive more articles from Your World Explored, you can also subscribe. Also, you can take part in the poll down below.