Majority of Germans against banning AfD

(Patria) - Almost two-thirds of respondents in eastern Germany - 65 percent of them - stated they were against banning the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, compared to 49 respondents who answered similarly in the western part of the country.

The poll was conducted for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung by the Allensbach Public Opinion Research Institute.

The research showed that 67 percent of Western and 88 percent of Eastern Germans have AfD supporters among their acquaintances, which is estimated to have influenced their stance on banning the party, Welt reported yesterday.

While 54 percent of respondents classified AfD as a right-wing extremist party, only five percent of supporters who know someone connected to the party had such an impression.

According to the poll, which included 1,054 people and was conducted from July 4 to 16, another reason for the negative attitude towards banning AfD is that many respondents assumed that parties advocating for the ban primarily want to eliminate competition in this way.

Calls for banning AfD have become louder after the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the party as far-right extremist.

The Federal Constitutional Court would have to decide on banning the party upon the request of the Federal Government, the Bundestag, or the Bundesrat.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has so far rejected the procedure of banning AfD.

"This is a fundamentally wrong approach," he told Welt TV.

He also stated that it is an "absolute delusion" to believe that one can pursue policies for years that lead to radical parties achieving better election results, and then say, "now we simply have to ban them."