BERLIN (Feb 24): For the first time since the Second World War, a far-right party has come second in a German national election, a result that will keep it outside government but make it a fearsome opponent of the ruling parties.

The Alternative for Germany, which has morphed since it was founded in 2013 from a party of libertarian economists to an anti-immigration, pro-Russia group, is forecast to have won the backing of one-in-five Germans.

The AfD has little chance of joining the government as the other parties maintain a "fire wall" to keep it out of office, but leader Alice Weidel implied in her victory speech that it was only a matter of time before that changed.

"Our hand remains outstretched to form a government," she told supporters, adding that it would be tantamount to "electoral fraud" if the first-placed conservatives chose to govern with left-wing parties rather than them.

If that happened, she said, "next time we'll come first."

Weidel, the leader of a nativist party that preaches traditional family values while raising her children with a Swiss-based woman of Sri Lankan background, said the AfD was now "a mainstream party".

Once internationally isolated, it now has an ally in the White House, where Donald Trump's adviser Elon Musk, the world's richest person, regularly posts his support.

"It's the most amazing feeling. I've been here since its founding and to see it on 20% is amazing. We'll be kept out of coalition, but as you can see, the conservatives are taking all of our positions," said Gilbert Kalb, an AfD member celebrating at the party's headquarters.

If cheers were slightly muted, that was because, although its vote share doubled since 2021, the result fell short of the more optimistic expectations.

Traditionally a pensioners' party, the AfD made inroads among the young, many of whom have experienced years of sluggish economic growth. Exit poll data indicated 22% of 25-to-34-year-olds voted for the party, compared to 10% of those aged 70 and over.

Even outside government it reshaped debate away from the "welcome culture" under which former Chancellor Angela Merkel let a million refugees settle in 2015, with all mainstream parties now pledging to tighten immigration controls.

Forecasts suggest it will have 23% of seats in parliament, just under the number needed to set up parliamentary committees of inquiry that can summon witnesses and set the news agenda.

In a sign of quite how far outside Europe's mainstream it is, other far right parties, including Marine Le Pen's National Rally, have refused to work with a party that reminds many Europeans of Germany's Nazi past.

Some legislators nurture close ties with Russia and China.

With the economy in crisis and a population disconcerted by war, it scored record results in four successive regional elections in the autumn.

The president of Germany's Central Jewish Council, Josef Schuster, told Welt newspaper he was shocked at the strength of the AfD's result.

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