Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) has banned journalists from attending its results party on Sunday as the far-Right party looks set to win a state election for the first time.
A ruling by the Regional Court of Erfurt on Saturday stated that the AfD must allow media companies into its results party. But it now appears to have closed the party to the entire public, thus excluding journalists, German media reports.
Germans have been voting in two eastern states on Sunday, including in Thuringia, where the AfD is polling first on 30%, and is neck-and-neck with Conservatives in Saxony on 30-32%.
Should AfD take control of Thuringia, it would represent a major crisis for the three ruling parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left-led coalition government, coming one year before the next national election.
The party’s victory would mark the first time a far-right party has the most seats in a German state parliament since World War Two.
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