German students at Tilburg University concerned about AfD’s rise: ‘Election result unfortunately no surprise’
German students at the university are unhappy with the election results in their home country. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz suffered a major defeat, while the far-right AfD emerged as the big winner, becoming the second-largest party. ‘I was really shocked.’
The AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) is often compared to the Dutch FvD (Forum for Democracy). The party started as a Eurosceptic party but is now mainly known for its anti-immigration stance and controversial statements regarding Germany’s Nazi past.
Although they did not become the largest party—that was the center-right CDU (Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschland)—many students are mainly alarmed by the AfD’s growth.
The party doubled its number of seats in this election. ‘A friend who also lives in Tilburg voted for the CDU. He is happy with the result but not with the AfD’s growth,’ says Liberal Arts and Sciences student Evelyn Rojas.
Important elections
‘I have been living in Tilburg for three years, but I closely followed the elections,’ says Rojas. ‘Elections are always important, but so much was at stake in this one.’ Polls indicated that the balance of power in the German Bundestag would change completely. That is why many German students living in the Netherlands still chose to vote.
Bruno Bath, a 21-year-old International Business Administration student, voted by mail. He did not follow the elections intensively, but when he was in Germany in January, he watched the election debate between Chancellor Scholz and CDU leader Friedrich Merz with his friends. ‘It was really bad,’ says Bath. ‘Politicians never answer the question that is asked.’
No surprise, but still shocking
‘The AfD is a party against the establishment, which is why they could grow so much,’ Bath believes. ‘But the election result was not as bad as I expected; I thought the AfD would win even more seats.’
Rojas was also not surprised by the far-right party’s growth: ‘The AfD was doing very well in the polls.’ However, psychology student Colin Mac Neill (24) was astonished. ‘I was really shocked by how many people voted for that party,’ he says. ‘When the news over the past few years showed how extreme the AfD is, I never expected them to become this big one day.’
Future
The students have different opinions on Germany’s future. ‘I think the CDU and SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, red.) will just govern together again; there’s really no other option,’ says Bath. ‘If the new government gets the economy under control again, support for the AfD will decrease.’
Rojas is also mostly optimistic. ‘I find the protests against the AfD hopeful,’ she says. Due to the large amount of resistance against the party, she hopes that the AfD will not gain too much influence in the German parliament. But Mac Neill sees things less positively. ‘I think the party will continue to grow. The rise of the far right is a trend all over Europe; the AfD has momentum now.’
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