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Serbian Rightists Hail AfD’s Strong Showing in Germany

September 25, 201711:08
After the far-right Alternative für Deutschland, AfD, celebrated its strong performance in Sunday's German elections, Serbian rightists have hurried to send their congratulations.

AfD’s top candidate Alice Weidel on Monday, September 25. Photo: Beta/AP Photo/Michael Sohn

Right-wing Serbian nationalists have lined up to congratulate the far-right AfD in Germany, which secured 13 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s general election and entered the Bundestag for the first time.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was re-elected for a fourth time – but her Christian Democrats, the CDU, scored their worst result since 1949.

Sending his “personal congratulations for the results to the leader of AfD, Alice Weidel,” the head of the small far-right National Freedom Movement, Miroslav Parovic, said on Sunday: “We are small party, but from Athens to Berlin and from Paris to Moscow, we now have friends in positions that can help Serbia.”

During the spring presidential elections in Serbia, the National Freedom Movement received support from the AfD, whose representatives participated in rallies of the movement’s presidential candidate, Parovic.

One of the AfD leaders, Markus Frohnmaier was a speaker at an event of the National Freedom Movement held in the town of Smederevska Palanka on March 26.

“We will jointly build the Paris – Berlin – Belgrade – Moscow axis and I look forward to our future meetings, and there will be a lot of them in future,” he said on the YouTube channel of the Movement.

A right-wing, Eurosceptic party, the AfD is best known for its strident opposition to immigration.

It saw its fortunes rise on the backs of hostility to Merkel’s controversial decision to allow about a million migrants fleeing the Syrian war to enter Germany.

Sunday’s election saw the far-right party become the third largest political force in Germany, with around 90 seats in the Bundestag.

 “Today, after the elections in Germany we expect another crack in the walls of the dungeon of the people,” Goran Davidovic, leader of the neo-Nazi National Machine wrote on Sunday on Twitter.

Along with another member of his group, he is being tried in absentia in Serbia for initiating national, racial and religious hatred and intolerance.

Bosko Obradovic, head of the more mainstream right-wing Dveri party, which has seven MPs in the Serbian parliament, also sent his greetings to the AfD.

“All congratulations to our friends from the AfD. See you in Bundestag and in Belgrade. Move on. It is time for the Alternative for Serbia,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Obradovic was guest of the AfD in March 2017, ahead of the Serbian presidential election in April.

His host was Jörg Moyten, one of the leaders of AfD, who agreed with Obradovic on the importance of family values and the fight against “Brussels commissioners”, as well as the protection of state borders during the time of the migrant crisis.

During the meeting, the head of Dveri invited AfD representative to visit Serbia.

Maja Zivanovic