what is the afd

The AfD (Alternative for Germany) is a right-wing populist political party in Germany. It was established in April 2013 and narrowly missed the 5% electoral threshold to sit in the Bundestag during the 2013 German federal election. The party won seven seats in the 2014 European Parliament election in Germany as a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). The party is known for its Euroscepticism, as well as for opposing immigration to Germany. The AfD is an economic liberal party, emphasizing deregulation and limited state intervention. It is also considered a far-right party and has appealed to right-wing extremist voters on issues such as immigration. The party is currently polling between 19% and 23% nationally, according to data compiled across eight different platforms, and is ahead of the three parties that make up Germanys coalition government. The AfD has been classified as an "organization of interest" by the regional offices of Germanys domestic intelligence services in several federal states, as well as at the federal level. The party has been criticized for exploiting and fueling anger, hate, and envy, pushing conspiracy theories, and exposing their reverence for autocracy. The AfD has declared itself a "major all-German party" after winning its biggest ever vote share in a western German state, Hesse, and coming second only to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).