BERLIN, September 9. /TASS/. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated his skepticism about initiating proceedings to ban the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

"I was and remain skeptical that such proceedings could succeed," he said at a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa in Berlin. "Besides, I do not think banning this party would solve the problem its voters see in Germany," Merz added. In his view, the AfD should be challenged through political debate, and efforts should be made to convince citizens of the merits of the policies being pursued.

A new wave of calls to ban the AfD emerged in Germany after the state election in Saxony-Anhalt. The party won a decisive victory in the September 6 election, securing 43.8% of the vote. This was its best-ever result in a German state election, doubling its share from the previous election there five years earlier. Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finished second, losing more than half its vote share compared with 2021.