Germany's populist right AfD party on the rise
January 24, 2016
The German daily "Bild am Sonntag" reported on Sunday that the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has reached 10 percent for the first time in a recent poll.
According to the article, 17 percent of men would vote for AfD while only 2 percent of women would do so.
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, saw its support fall by 2 percentage points to 36 percent. The Social Democrats (SPD), the CDU's coalition partner, came in at 25 percent.
No to barring AfD from debates
A majority of Germans, meanwhile, said they disagreed with the decision to bar the AfD from televised debates in the states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.
Of those polled, 53 percent of Germans polled said the party should be able to participate in the debates, while 34 percent said it shouldn't.
The state premiere of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Deyer (SPD), refused to participate in a debate with the AfD, therefore putting pressure on regional broadcaster Südwestrundfunk to ban the party.
blc/rc (dpa)