In a speech at the security conference in Munich on Friday, US Vice President JD Vance criticized German parties' reluctance to cooperate with the far-right.
The election campaign has been dominated by the migration issue, and support for the high-nationalist party AFD, led by Alice Weidel, has soared. Then came US Vice President JD Vance's statement last week, which added further fuel to the debate.
After Vance's speech, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's challenger Friedrich Merz said that he will not tolerate such interference in the election on Sunday, nor in the coalition negotiations. His Christian Democratic Union CDU/CSU has the largest support in opinion polls ahead of the election.
"Unacceptable"
Olaf Scholz has also rejected JD Vance's comment, which he calls "unacceptable", and assures that there will be no cooperation with the extreme right. Alice Weidel, party leader of Alternative for Germany (AFD), is, on the other hand, pleased with Vance's statement.
We must not build firewalls to exclude millions of voters from the start – we must talk to each other. He made it clear, she says.
The coming days will see more televised debates and large election rallies, where candidates will fight for votes. Around 30 percent of voters have not yet finally decided which party to vote for, according to the latest opinion polls.
Migration issue
A compilation of recent measurements shows that the Christian Democratic CDU/CSU has around 30 percent of support, while AFD has around 21 percent and the Social Democrats (SPD) around 16 percent, writes Politico.
The election has been brought forward since Scholz's coalition collapsed in November. The election debate has been dominated by the migration issue after a series of attacks in Germany with perpetrators from Afghanistan. In the latest incident, where a car drove into a crowd in central Munich, a mother and her two-year-old daughter were killed. Dozens were injured.
