Sat 22 July 2023:
German right-wing opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has reached record high support rate this week and is currently backed by 22%, a poll conducted by the Institute for New Social Answers (INSA) for German newspaper Bild showed on Saturday.
The figure grew by 2% week-on-week and two-fold year-on-year, putting the party in the second place after the opposition bloc, consisting of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria parties, which gained 26%, the survey showed.
The poll found that the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (18%), the Alliance 90/The Greens party (14%) and the Free Democratic Party (7%) did not record a rise in support among the respondents and together gained 39%, which is insufficient to have a majority in the German parliament (Bundestag).
The poll was conducted from July 17-21 among 1,266 German citizens. The margin of error does not exceed 2.9 percentage points.
Hostility toward Muslims is widespread
A hostile attitude toward Muslims is widespread in large sections of German society. Its manifestations are an everyday reality. One in two people in Germany agrees with anti-Muslim statements.
These are the findings published on June 29 by the Independent Expert Panel on Hostility against Muslims (UEM) in its final report, “Islamophobia — A German Balance Sheet.”
The expert council was appointed after the racist attack in Hanau in 2020 and commissioned to conduct the study.
In more than 400 pages, the nine authors describe society based on scientific studies, police crime statistics and documentation of anti-Muslim incidents by anti-discrimination agencies, counseling centers and NGOs.
The failure of political parties
The study also looks at Germany’s political parties. In the Bundestag, the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has “a manifestly anti-Muslim program.” In the biggest opposition block — the center-right bloc of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and regional Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) — “latent hostility toward Muslims can be seen in the inconsistent recognition of Islam as part of the German nation or culture. The ruling center-left Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) fail to fight institutional racism consistently. The post-communist Left Party is a notable exception.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) described the report’s findings as “bitter.” She pointed out that among the approximately 5.5 million people of the Muslim faith and culture, most are German citizens.
“Muslim life is a natural part of Germany. We want all people in our diverse society to have the same opportunities and rights,” Faeser said.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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