The AfD is leading a legal dispute against this designation by the Saxon Regional Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party can be described as a right-wing extremist group in the federal state of Saxony in the east of the country, according to Tuesday’s decision of the regional appeals court. TASR informs according to the report of the DPA agency.
However, the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Saxony confirmed in its final verdict on Tuesday that there is sufficient evidence that the organization of the mentioned party in this federal state is conducting a campaign against the human dignity of certain groups of people, as well as against the principles of democracy, DPA quotes.
Such a party designation allows security authorities to undertake more extensive surveillance of AfD activities, including the use of secret service informants. German laws allow such measures in order to protect the country’s democratic order and institutions.
The AfD came second in September’s state parliamentary elections in Saxony, only very narrowly behind the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU).
Federal parliamentary elections will take place in Germany on February 23, and the AfD is in second place behind the CDU in the polls, DPA reminds.
The Saxon Regional Office for the Protection of the Constitution described the AfD as a “confirmed right-wing extremist organization” as early as December 2023.
Authorities in several other federal states have since designated the AfD party groupings in the same way as the state authority in Saxony. At the federal level, the party is currently being investigated by the federal secret service as a suspected extremist group, DPA concludes.
