Crucial regional elections this Sunday in Germany: in the states of Thuringia and Saxony, the nationalists of Alternative für Deutschland could come out on top.
In 2013, Majid Albunni fled the war in Syria and settled in Berlin.
Majib Albunni is now a naturalized German citizen and says he is eager to vote.
He says he wants to block the nationalist party Alternative für Deutschland and hopes that many voters will make the effort to participate.
Majid Albunni, a naturalized German Syrian refugee: “Those who don’t like, or at least I know they don’t like these ideas, are silent about it, and that’s disappointing, because we have to be active, as pro-democracy actors, we really have to show that we are the majority, and I believe we are the majority.
In the European elections last June, AAlternative for Germany came in second in Germany.
Representatives of ethnic minorities are anxious about the regional elections this Sunday in Saxony and Thuringia. The two states are located in the east and centre of the country and the AfD is hoping for a good result.
In Thuringia, 30% of voters say they support Alternative für Deutshland.
In Berlin, the American Jewish Committee published a pamphlet warning against the anti-Semitic ideology promoted by the AfD.
The director of the organisation does not rule out future coalitions between the traditional parties and the AfD.
Remko Leemhuis, director of the Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee: “Maybe we will see after the state elections that it will be very difficult for the other parties to form a coalition without the AfD, which could mean that in those states you will have a locked political system that will not be able to move forward or do anything because there will be no functioning government.”
Kristina Jovanovski, Euronews: “Minority groups warn that AfD policies will not only impact local or national politics. The party has proposed holding a referendum on Germany’s exit from the EU.”
A leader of Germany’s Turkish community says the party threatens the entire European system.
Gokay Sofuoglu, Chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany: “The AfD is an anti-Semitic party, an anti-Muslim party and at the same time an anti-democratic party. The AfD is also a party that denies fascism and the Holocaust.”
The knife attack last Friday in Solingen has rekindled the debate on immigration.
The suspect is a Syrian refugee and the attack was claimed by the Islamic State.
The ruling coalition’s migration policy has been the target of harsh criticism.
Majib Albuni hopes that there will be no confusion.
Majid Albunni, Syrian-German: “I still believe that German society is well educated and aware, and can differentiate between a person, a radical extremist person, and a group of people.
Another regional election will take place in Brandenburg on September 22. Here again, polls show the AfD leading the voting intentions.