Horst Seehofer might not be popular outside of bavaria but he is not afraid to speak the truth. And NPD and AfD references to my comment are absurd.
Your comment literally quoted AfD and NPD campaigns. Not too absurd, really.
Justifying other people voting for the AfD with their fear of having lower retirement benefits when the AfD wants to explicitly
lower retirement benefits in favor of tax cuts for the rich as part of their program is kind of a silly thing to say, don't you think?
Here is the truth: There are a lot of racists, nationalists and ultra-conservatists living in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Neo Nazi Party got one of their best results ever here in 2011 with 6%. The AfD wants the same stuff the NPD wants, but packages it into a more "civil" public image, so all the people who'd be afraid of the image they'd harbor by openly supporting the NPD because they are a party of Neo-Nazis can now finally vote for AfD without that Stigma. But again: There are no big differences between the NPD and AfD. Voting for the AfD, be it out of protest or not, makes you a supporter of racists and facists.
Noteworthy: This is not the norm for germany. MeckPom is one of the most right-wing states in the country. By comparison, Berlin will have their regional election next week and over here AfD right now sits
at 5th position with 10%. Nation wide they
fight for third position with Grüne at 12%, far behind leading party CDU and SPD, with no other party wanting a coalition with them - so they have no shot at actually being part of the administration.
Let me be clear: This sucks. But it's not indicative for germany as a whole.
Being new in Germany myself, this Sunday is the first time I get to vote here, and I have no idea on what. AfD has too many anti-jew and anti-gay sentiments for me to vote for them. CDU is a christian party and I strongly oppose giving electoral power to religious institutions. The greens are too far removed from my political views, and the SPD party here did some horrible anti-democratic things here their last term so I don't want to see them back.There's nobody else running here.
I've never not voted, but I'm considering just voting blank. There really should be more choice.
Voting blank does literally nothing and you might as well stay at home. You don't change the percentages of the overall outcome, your vote just won't be count. Please don't do that. That might sound harsh but we really don't need more apathic young people too tired to actually bother to inform themselves.
In parts of Berlin there are
almost two dozen parties you can vote for with pretty much every area you could think of covered. Bemoaning the lack of "more choice" couldn't be further from the truth. Just a few choices you have:
The liberal FDP
The left DIE LINKE
The party explicitly founded to fight for animal rights, Tierschutzpartei
The communist DKP
The satirical, liberal PARTEI (who could actualyl do quite some good when elected)
And so many more.