A group of German lawmakers from across the political spectrum are considering backing a motion to potentially ban the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Germany's Constitutional Court has the power to consider whether a political party is a threat to the country's democratic order and the rule of law, and can take steps including an outright ban on the party.
But only members of Germany's parliament are allowed to ask the court to launch such proceedings. For months, there has been growing public debate in Germany over whether such steps should be taken against the anti-immigration AfD.
According to the Welt newspaper and Spiegel magazine, significantly more than the 37 lawmakers required for such a motion are together weighing whether to take action against the AfD.
The lawmakers come from the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the hard-left Die Linke (The Left).
In their draft motion, the lawmakers are also reportedly calling for the AfD to be excluded from state funding.
Dpa has learned that the lawmakers plan to present the motion to parliamentary groups sometime after October 8.
In the court proceedings, opponents of the AfD would have to prove that the party is aggressively working to undermine Germany's democratic constitution.
Such steps have been taken against small fringe political parties before, but never against a party with such high levels of voter support.
The AfD won its first-ever regional election in the eastern state of Thuringia earlier this month, and is expected to make gains in next year's national elections as well.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified the AfD as a suspected extremist party.
Critics warn that proceedings would be very lengthy and the outcome before the Constitutional Court would be uncertain.
Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of the upstart populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), sharply criticized the plan.
Wagenknecht, who holds a mix of left-wing economic positions and right-wing anti-immigration views, broke from Die Linke earlier this year to found her own party.
"This really is the stupidest motion of the year," she told the news portal t-online. Instead of taking the legitimate concerns of AfD voters seriously, she said, they wanted to "finish off the unwelcome competitor" with a ban.
A senior SPD politician, Gesine Schwan, also expressed criticism.
"A ban proposal now would be politically counterproductive," Schwan told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. She said it risks driving even more voters who are sceptical of pluralistic democracy "into the arms of the AfD."
Roderich Kiesewetter of the centre-right opposition Christian Democrats (CDU), on the other hand, spoke positively of the effort. He said that a sensitive discussion on how to deal with the AfD is necessary in parliament.
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