The same day, the political parties and the trade unions, students and the women held massive demonstrations in Berlin and other cities including Cologne and Frankfurt opposing AFD and decrying the active campaigning by Elon Musk and Trump ‘s MAGA supporters in the domestic affairs of Germany. The demonstrators were upbeat since the latest opinion polls showed the rise in the voting percentage of the SPD, Green and the other left wing parties, though AFD also gained at the cost of the main party CDU/CSU.

On January 6, the opinion polls gave 32,3 per cent voting support to the centre-right CDU/CSU which is tipped to form the government after the elections, as against the far right AFD at 18.3 per cent. The others behind were SPD of the Chancellor Olaf Scholz at 15.6, Green at 13.4 per cent, BSW at 5.3, FDP at 3.6 and the left wing Die Linke at 3.3 per cent. Political analysts at that time projected that the present Presidential nominee of CDU/CSU combo Freidrick Merz will find little difficulty in forming a coalition government after the February 23 elections.

But the latest opinion polls taken on January 20 showed a decline in CDU/CSU voting percentage and the rise in AFD votes. CDU/CSU got 30 percent while the AFD got 20 per cent. Significantly, the others of anti AFD combo also increased their vote percentage. The SPD got 17 per cent, Green 14 per cent, BSW 6 per cent and the left wing Linke 4 per cent. This has enthused the left leaning parties. Twenty five days are still left for polling. During this period, the left, SPD and the Greens plan to campaign hard against AFD appealing to the people not to elect a pro-Trump party. The FD leader Alice Weidel is a big supporter of Trump. He has been termed by Elon Musk as the best potential chancellor of Germany.

The CDU/CSU leader Fredrick Merz has also taken a strong position against the AFD in the current poll campaign. He commented that never in the history of Germany, such type of foreign intervention took place. He was referring to Elon Musk’s participation in the poll meetings of the AFD through video-interaction. But the latest opinion polls have shaken his earlier confidence as the AFD has eroded the support base of the CDU. CDU comprises of far right as also nationalistic and religious middle class including right liberals. The AFD is targeting the far right and the nationalists who are angry with the Immigrants presently staying in Germany. Germany has a liberal system for allowing immigrants including asylum seekers. The AFD’s call to stop all immigration facilities have got support from this section of the centre-right CDU.

Presently in some of the provinces, the SPD is enjoying power in cooperation with the Greens and the Left. The AFD improved its position substantially in the recent provincial elections, but the party was kept out of power as no other party was keen to take AFD as partner in the coalition. If this attitude persists at national level, then even if AFD increases its voting figure from 20 per cent now to 22 or 23 per cent, it has little chance to be a part of the future coalition. But certainly, AFD as the second largest party in the German parliament will be in a position to influence the course of German politics.

The BSW led by firebrand Sahra Wagenknecht last year did well in national opinion polls crossing the figure of SPD but it failed to maintain that tempo. The party earlier thought of bringing back the disgruntled German workers who joined the AFD from the left trade unions. But this programme of BSW has not worked well, though in the initial stage, many workers joined the BSW leaving AFD. Now, the BSW has again stepped up the campaign amongst the workers and students aligned with AFD to join BSW . The official left party De Linke also has launched a big drive to bring back the labour union members who left the party unions in the recent years. Since there is a competition between BSW and De Linke to draw new members, this is having a positive impact on both the organisations. BSW is the splitaway faction of De Linke. (IPA Service)