The AfD won’t be in a position to drive a legislative agenda, but Sunday’s vote probably will give it something the far right had always been denied: parliamentary legitimacy on a national level. “Once a party gains access to Parliament, chances become much lower that it will simply disappear again,” said Tarik Abou-Chadi, a comparative politics researcher at Humboldt University in Berlin. As the only anti-immigration party in a mostly consensus-based national parliament, the AfD can also hope to further sharpen its profile as an alternative to Chancellor Angela Merkel. “We will chase Ms. Merkel,” AfD co-leader Alexander Gauland said after first projections Sunday showed big gains for the far right. Read moreGerman far-right leader says Merkel’s refugee policy enabled his party’s riseRefugees in Germany can’t vote.

Source: Washington Post September 24, 2017 18:13 UTC