BERLIN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Many German public figures and politicians have reacted with dismay and concern on Monday to the news that the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) will enter the country's federal parliament (Bundestag) for the first time.
The AfD more than doubled its voter share to reach 12.6 percent on Sunday, making it the third largest party in federal politics for the next legislative term.
President of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) Heinrich Bedford-Strohm described the AfD's success as a "wake up call" for everyone who valued the peaceful and cooperative coexistence of people in a Germany that was open to the world.
Bedford-Strohm accused the AfD of a "lack of political culture" and urged Germans to work together to ensure that "exclusive and hate-filled voices do not poison life in our country." He voiced skepticism over whether a "divided" party like the AfD could make a constructive contribution in the federal Parliament and rid itself of its more extreme members.
Goekay Sofuoglu, federal chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany, voiced similar concerns. Sofuoglu lamented that the AfD had secured nearly 13 percent of the vote "despite or exactly because of its openly racist statements."
The community leader also expressed worries that a new type of political discourse had become permissible following controversial statements by AfD politicians and stressed his view that a diverse and open society was a source of strength and success rather than posing a threat to Germany.
In the meanwhile, governor of Thuringia Bodo Ramelow (The Left) warned that protracted negotiations over the formation of a new government would only serve to strengthen the AfD.
Ramelow said he could envision a three-party coalition on a federal level and urged German politicians to "think anew" and act swiftly.
He further noted that the AfD had achieved its greatest success in Eastern Germany and therefore called on the Chancellor to take more responsibility for delivering on the promise of socio-economic convergence between the two halves of the country. A total of 27 years after German re-unification, prevailing problems surrounding, pensions, wages and precarious working situations in East Germany should have already been solved, according to Ramelow.
Left party chancellor candidate Sahra Wagenknecht echoed her party colleague's criticism by blaming Angela Merkel's (CDU) governing grand coalition with Social Democrats (SPD) for the rise in the AfD's popularity.
Wagenknecht voiced hope that the SPD would stick by its decision to enter the opposition as Germany needed a "social democratic party with social democratic policies" if it wanted to prevent the AfD from getting stronger leading the opposition in the federal parliament.
Contrastingly, the Green party (Gruene) blamed the Christian Social Union (CSU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) for having contributed to the AfD's success by trying to contain the party's rise with lurches towards right-wing policies of their own.
Green party director Michael Kellner said that these tactics had "strengthened, rather than weakened" the AfD. He attacked the CSU directly, demanding that it decide on whether it wanted to distance itself from or imitate the AfD's "racist, right-wing extreme politics."
CSU lead candidate Joachim Herrmann, who repeatedly urged Chancellor Angela Merkel to adopt stricter migration policies in the run-up to the election, said his party would have to think carefully about how to win back voters who had cast their ballot for the AfD as a sign of disappointment and protest.
His fellow party member and Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer indicated that the party would try to re-position itself politically as he complained that the CSU had to "close the open flank" which it allegedly suffered from on the right end of the political spectrum.
The AfD itself was clearly elated by its strong result, with co-party leader Alexander Gauland telling the next government "whatever it will look like" to "get ready for tough times."
"We will hunt them. We will take back our country and our people," Gauland added.
Speaking to the press, the AfD's lead candidate Alice Weidel confidently announced to press that her party was "here to stay."
