Germans, please reconsider calling 1/4 of your neighbours evil

To clarify, I am Canadian, and this post is for those who are in Germany or are interested in its politics.

I see the German political state as a much more interesting case than what we have at home, as we only have 2 major parties, competing in a dated electoral system (FPTP).

To get to the point, I think that the populist right wing AfD should be taken more seriously by Germany and other Germans because 20% of the vote share is not a small number. Coming second in the most recent national election, getting 10 million votes, only behind the centrist conservatives’ 15M.

Polling now suggests that if an election were held today, the current government would not have enough seats to form a coalition. Thats right, Germany’s 2 big parties combined, who have ruled the country one after the other, would not be able to reach 50% of the parliament, because the AfD is now neck and neck for the first place in the polls (alongside the conservative union).

All this to me sounds like the country may not be headed in the right direction and dissatisfaction is growing, the electoral base is shifting to both sides of the extreme. And thats never a good sign. Ignoring the growing reality simply isn’t a choice, or at least a good one.

So what im trying to say is, Germans, come face to face with your neighbours, because about 1/4 of them would now support the very faction you may deem evil. Danke for listening to my non-expert foreign opinion.