Germany

NBC News - A far-right grouping in Germany, known as the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, may be on the verge of becoming the strongest party for the first time in a state election. The  anti-immigration, nationalist party is ahead in several polls and is expected to win about 30% of Sunday’s vote, despite that fact the AfD is under monitoring by the country’s intelligence agency for suspected extremism. The party’s top candidate Maximilian Krah was forced to withdraw from campaigning in May after telling an Italian newspaper that the SS, the Nazis’ main paramilitary force, were “not all criminals.” 

AfD was set up in 2013 as a movement against the euro currency and shifted its focus to Islam and immigration. The party’s view gained momentum after then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s doors to asylum-seekers in 2015. It has risen in popularity at both the local and national level ever since, specifically in the former East Germany, the former communist half of the country which had strong ties to-then Soviet Union.  MORE