CSU regional group leader: “You can govern the AfD in a small way”

CSU regional group leader Alexander Hoffmann is clearly opposed to a ban on the AfD and advocates for politically cornering the party instead. "You can govern the AfD in its entirety or rule it out of existence, but you won't be able to ban it," the chairman of the CSU parliamentary group told the German Press Agency. Even if a ban were successful, AfD voters would still be there. "That means a new group would form that unites the protest. We wouldn't have gained anything in this matter."

At its party conference in Berlin at the end of June, the SPD called for the preparation of proceedings to ban the AfD. Delegates passed a motion calling for the establishment of a federal-state working group to collect evidence of its unconstitutionality – as a first step toward a ban petition with the Federal Constitutional Court. The petition could be submitted by the Bundestag, Bundesrat, or the federal government.

Hoffmann said that, as a lawyer, he didn't see sufficient evidence to support a ban. He said a legal process would take years – and the AfD would only benefit from it. A more promising approach would be to take the wind out of the party's sails by consistently tightening its migration policy. "A lot of things are going in the right direction, which means the AfD is running out of stories."

However, this hasn't been reflected in the polls so far. The AfD is polling at 22 to 25 percent, better than its 20.8 percent in the federal election in February. The CDU/CSU is currently polling at 27 to 30 percent, in line with its election result of 28.5 percent. The smaller coalition partner, the SPD, has declined from 16.4 percent to 13 to 15 percent.