Germany debates possible ban of far‑right AfD party

Green Party leader Cem Özdemir urged a closer legal review of a potential ban on the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), citing Article 21 of the German Basic Law. He warned that “our democracy is threatened like never before” and called for actions to prevent the AfD from attaining minister‑president positions.

A petition demanding that the Bundestag and Bundesrat request a constitutional complaint against the AfD has gathered more than 1.34 million signatures. The petition references a legal opinion from the NGO Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF), which concluded that the AfD is “clearly unconstitutional” and that a ban “would likely succeed.”

The debate intensifies ahead of state elections in Saxony‑Anhalt, Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern and Berlin, where polls show the AfD hovering around or above 40 % in some regions. Political figures from the Greens, SPD and CDU have expressed varying degrees of support for a ban, while critics argue that the GFF report lacks substantive evidence. The issue has sparked public mobilisation, media commentary and accusations of political suppression across Germany.