Key facts
- The AfD won 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
- The CDU received 17.2% and the Social Democrats 9.3% in Saxony-Anhalt.
- German politicians are competing to deport asylum seekers faster.
- Muslim youth projects have faced contract cancellations and audits.
- Anti-Muslim incidents in Germany surged 33% in 2025, with 4,096 reported.
- 4,096 anti-Muslim incidents were reported in Germany during 2025.
Centrist parties in Germany are increasingly adopting the anti-immigration rhetoric of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in an effort to regain political ground, a strategy that is alienating Muslim communities and questioning their sense of belonging.
The AfD achieved an unprecedented victory in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, securing 43.8 percent of the vote, significantly outperforming Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which garnered 17.2 percent, and the Social Democrats at 9.3 percent. This outcome reflects a two-year trend where mainstream parties have attempted to neutralize the far-right by adopting its agenda, including toughening asylum rules and accelerating deportations.
This hardline stance, initiated in September 2024 under then-Social Democratic interior minister Nancy Faeser, included imposing police controls at all nine of Germany's land borders and searching vehicles. Merz, as CDU leader, had previously called for a national migration emergency to reject asylum seekers at frontiers, a policy now being pursued by the federal government, which threatens to revoke residency rights from naturalized offenders.
Middle Eastern communities, including families who fled conflict zones a decade ago, now face politicians competing to expedite their return to unstable homelands. Even third-generation German citizens of Turkish and Arab heritage are reportedly having their belonging questioned in mainstream political debates.
Historically, immigrant communities have voted for center-left parties like the Social Democrats and the Greens. However, trust has eroded, particularly after Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared in October 2023 that "Germany must deport on a large scale." Centrist leaders are now frequently blaming migrant communities for public disorder, framing integration as a disciplinary measure rather than an equal civic contract.
Muslim youth projects funded by the federal program Demokratie Leben have reported sudden contract cancellations and invasive administrative audits, particularly when politicians allege proximity to conservative Islam. Community centers face increased police scrutiny and permit denials for cultural gatherings on speculative public-safety grounds.
The Alliance Against Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate reported 4,096 anti-Muslim incidents across Germany in 2025, a 33 percent increase from the previous year, including 214 physical assaults and five arson attacks against mosques. Mosques and individuals wearing headscarves have also reported hate mail, vandalism, and verbal abuse.
Community leaders, such as Abdassamad El Yazidi, chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, warn that the mainstream adoption of exclusionary rhetoric makes millions of citizens feel like second-class Germans, implying their constitutional rights are conditional. Mathias Rohe from the Erlangen Centre for Islam and Law in Europe notes that such collective suspicion infringes upon Article 3 of Germany's Basic Law, which guarantees equality before the law.
While acknowledging genuine security obligations, experts argue that copying the far-right's anti-immigrant rhetoric legitimizes their claims and ultimately fails to defeat them. This approach risks alienating millions of citizens, shrinking the coalition willing to defend the constitutional order, and forfeiting democratic institutions' moral authority. The political homelessness experienced by many Muslim citizens, with limited options on the left, could lead to electoral abstention or civic withdrawal.