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AfD surge threatens to spoil party in home town of ‘Germany’s next chancellor’

Telegraph
Summary
Nutrition label

68% Informative

Friedrich Merz is the frontrunner to become Germany 's next chancellor.

Polls suggest he will emerge as the clear winner of next month ’s election with 30 per cent of the vote.

But in his home town of Brilon , Germany , there is a whiff of nervous excitement in the air.

He is a descendant of the famed Ulrich family, which made its fortune mining the wider Sauerland region for iron.

His maternal grandfather, Josef Paul Sauvigny , was the mayor of Brilon in the early years of the Third Reich .

Mr Merz has embraced populism since returning to politics as head of the CDU in 2022 .

He has vowed a massive crackdown on illegal migration in Germany if he wins the election.

His tone marks a striking departure from that of Mrs Merkel , who declared “wir schaffen das” we can handle it when she opened Germany ’s borders amid the 2015 refugee crisis.

AfD is currently polling in second place with around 20 per cent of the vote, far behind the CDU frontrunner.

Migration has been a critical vote winner for the AfD this election campaign’s central issue.

VR Score

70

Informative language

67

Neutral language

29

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

45

Offensive language

likely offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

Source diversity

1

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