Far-right Alternative for Germany reports surge in membership

30/6/2024 6:21

        Leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany on Saturday reported a surge in membership and vowed to build on the party's success in the European Parliament election, as they target wins in three state votes in the east this year.
        
        The AfD jumped to second place in nationwide polls last year amid frustration with infighting in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition, worries over sluggish growth in Europe's largest economy, and concerns over the impact of the war in Ukraine.
        
        While a string of scandals and anti-extremism protests has dampened the AfD's support in recent months, the nationalist, eurosceptic party nonetheless came second with 15.9% in the European vote this month, ahead of the three parties in Scholz's coalition.
        
        AfD membership had grown by 60% to 46,881 members since January 2023, co-chief Tino Chrupalla told nearly 600 delegates at a party convention in the western city of Essen. Some 22,000 people had joined while 4,000 had left.
        
        "Despite all the harassment you have to endure as a member of the AfD, this is an absolutely sensational figure," Chrupalla told the convention.
        
        The figure is still a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of members boasted by the "big tent" parties in Germany, Scholz’s Social Democrats and the opposition conservatives.