Of the many people who say they are supporting the hard-right Alternative fur Germany (AfD) Party in this Sunday’s crunch Federal elections, Alam Shahriar’s enthusiasm is perhaps the most eye-opening.
The student, who is studying for an engineering master’s degree in Berlin, is from Bangladesh and unable to vote. But he is adamant he would vote for Alice Weidel’s controversial party if he could because it would be “better for people coming to Germany”.
Although the incumbent centre-right Christian Democratic Union [CDU] is expected to be the most popular party, and continue in a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party,
Germany has been rocked by the likelihood that the AfD is on course for the second highest vote share. While no one expects them to end up in government – not this time, at least – they are likely to enjoy a comfortable share of the vote.
Fiercely anti-migration, the AfD has revealed plans to carry out mass deportations if elected as part of “remigration” policy-that has been interpreted as proposing the controversial “return” of people with migrant backgrounds.
Yet that does not mean support for the AfD is entirely split down ethnic or national lines, as evidenced by Mr Shahriar.
As a highly-skilled worker with a desire to contribute to Germany’s world-class engineering sector, he does not believe such hardline policies would apply to him and even felt such a tough approach could be “helpful”.
“[The AfD] is better for the people who are coming here, working [and] contributing for the country,” he told the Express.
“We love Germany. That’s why we come for work, education and all those things. The AfD should support the citizens and the legal expatriates. Those who are [not working] and are illegal they should not.”
However, while migration is undoubtedly the number one issue at this election, according to the polls, Mr Shahriar insisted the AfD to do more than simply tackle Germany’s issues with migration – like bringing down inflation.