Who are Germany's far-right party AfD? How did it start and what are its policies - as election polls open

Even though it is highly unlikely to take a share of power soon, it has become a factor that other politicians cannot ignore and helped shape Germany’s debate on migration. The far-right party first entered Germany’s national parliament eight years ago on the back of discontent with the arrival of large numbers of migrants in the mid-2010s, and curbing migration remains its signature theme.

It started in 2013 and initially focused on opposition to bailouts for struggling countries in the eurozone debt crisis — measures that then chancellor Angela Merkel described as “without alternative”. It was sometimes known as a “party of professors”, a reference to leading figures in the early days, though it already had a strong streak of hard-right, anti-establishment identity.

Over the years, AfD became more radical and repeatedly changed leaders. AfD is going into this election with renewed confidence and radical language.

Alice Weidel, its first candidate for chancellor, has embraced the term “remigration” as the party calls for large-scale deportations of people with no legal entitlement to be in Germany — a politically loaded word that featured in last year’s controversy. AfD calls for the immediate lifting of sanctions against Russia and opposes weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

It wants Germany to reintroduce a national currency and for the European Union to be turned into a looser “association of European nations”, though it is not explicitly advocating leaving the 27-nation bloc. The AfD’s branches in three eastern states are designated “proven right-wing extremist” groups.

AfD strongly objects to those assessments and rejects any association with the Nazi past. The polls are currently open across Germany in an election that could shape Europe’s response to the new Trump administration in the US, the Russia-Ukraine war and security across the continent. Two or more parties will most likely form a coalition in the coming weeks.