A majority of people in Germany expects a premier from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to take office in at least one of the three states holding elections this fall.

According to the survey from the INSA polling institute conducted for the weekly Bild am Sonntag newspaper, 69% consider this a given.

Of those, 28% expect an AfD premier in not just one but several states.

Just 16% think that the AfD will not succeed in taking power in at least one state, with 15% undecided.

If the AfD fails to win an absolute majority, 40% of respondents wanted to see cooperation between the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Left Party to form a state government, as against 36% in favour of CDU/AfD cooperation.

This tendency is clearer among conservative voters, 48% of whom would prefer the CDU to cooperate with the Left Party as against 27% in favour of the CDU working with the AfD.

Altogether 38% were in favour of banning the AfD – which has long been under scrutiny by the domestic intelligence agency for possible extremist tendencies – while 47 % were against a ban.

State elections are to take place in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin in September.

DW