Angela Merkel urges defence of democracy after AfD record result
Merkel warned that truths are being called lies and urged citizens and centrist parties to act as AfD sweeps a historic regional result.
Former German chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to citizens to defend freedom and democracy after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) posted a record result in regional elections that has reverberated across the country.
Merkel's warning and the electoral backdrop
Speaking to about 1,200 people in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Merkel — who governed Germany for more than 15 years and left office at the end of 2021 — read passages from her autobiography and urged civic responsibility, saying that nothing comes for free and every citizen has a role to play in protecting democratic norms.
She warned about the distortion of facts in public life, telling the audience that “Today, to an unprecedented degree, truths are called lies, and lies truths,” and adding that in democracies even people in leading positions sometimes exploit that confusion. The event lasted roughly an hour and a half and drew repeated applause.
Merkel recalled the 2015 refugee crisis and Germany’s decision to admit Syrians who arrived via Hungary, acknowledging that that stance — together with her crisis management during the eurozone turmoil — helped strengthen AfD. The party originally formed as an anti-euro movement before shifting its focus to migration.
The immediate trigger for Merkel’s remarks was AfD’s unexpectedly strong showing in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, where the party won a record 43.8% of the vote and fell just short of an absolute majority, finishing well ahead of the Christian Democrats (CDU) led by Friedrich Merz. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the city-state of Berlin are scheduled to vote on September 20.
Merkel argued that freedom requires democratic conditions and warned that citizens who value liberty must defend their democracy against structures that threaten it. She also urged centrist parties to offer concrete solutions rather than believe they can control the far right merely by debating the topics AfD sets or attempting rhetorical one-upmanship without real policy offers.
Photo: ДПА)
