The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been promised by the country’s domestic intelligence agency that there will be no more criticism of the party at its congress this weekend.
The agreement came after the head of the intelligence service, Thomas Haldenwang, told the Germany News agency (dpa) earlier this week that many of the party’s election candidates have spoken of far-right conspiracy theories, such as the so-called “The Great Replacement Theory” at the AfD conference to select candidates for the European Union elections.
Recent polls have revealed the AfD’s high popularity; this has sparked concern among mainstream politicians and many Germans about a possible shift to the far right.
According to a poll conducted by the YouGov institute for measuring opinion indicators, and its results announced on Friday, the majority of Germans still oppose the party, with 58% saying that they are against the participation of the AfD in any coalition government.
“The Great Replacement” is a hypothesis pushed by the white nationalist conspiracy theory that states that white people will be replaced by non-white immigrants.
The AfD soon sued Haldenwang and demanded an emergency injunction.
A court spokesman said the intelligence agency agreed to temporarily refrain from further criticism while the case continued.
