Forty members, or 5.5%, of the German Parliament have signed a bill to suspend democracy and ban the AfD. It would be the first time Germany has banned a major political party since the Enabling Act of 1933 that made Hitler a dictator.
Alternative für Deutschland is Germany’s only large opposition party and conservative party. It is polling in first place in former East Germany and second place nationwide. It also polls first among young people in large areas of Germany.
The MPs claim that the AfD secretly wants to suspend democracy if they ever gain power. So they say they must pre-emptively suspend democracy to stop the AfD from suspending democracy in the future.
The forty MPs include:
- One member of the allegedly conservative Christian Social Union [CSU] of Bavaria.
- Three members of the allegedly center-right Christian Democratic Union [CDU].
- One member of the allegedly centrist Free Democrats [FDP].
- Nine members of the left-wing Greens.
- Nineteen members of the left-wing Social Democrats [SPD], a very old party that was banned itself after the Enabling Act of 1933.
- Nine members of the far-left Die Linke, the rebranded former East German Communist Party.
BSW, which is a brand new splinter group of Die Linke, is the only party, other than the AfD, that has spoken out against the ban.
Percentage of party members in parliament who have signed onto the ban.
AfD: 0%
BSW: 0%
FDP: 1.1%
CDU: 2.0%
CSU: 2.3%
Greens: 7.7%
SPD: 9.1%
Die Linke: 32.1%
