The far-right in Europe
The advance of Germany's hard-right AfD party in Sunday's election was welcomed by some European parties with similar anti-migration and nationalist agendas. Here is a snapshot of some of the far-right parties in Europe. - Germany - The openly anti-immigration and Islamophobic Alternative for Germany (AfD), founded in 2013, has become the first far-right party in the Bundestag since the end of World War II, breaking a taboo in a country haunted by its Nazi past. The party took nearly 13 percent of the votes on Sunday, having failed in the 2013 election to make the five percent required for representation in parliament. Its success was saluted by parties with similar far-right agendas with Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Front (FN), saying the party was a "new symbol of (the) reawakening of European peoples." - France - Le Pen's FN, founded by her firebrand father Jean-Marie in 1972, took nearly 34 percent of votes in the May presidential election run-off won by Emmanuel Macron. This was double her father's 17.8 percent score when he reached the second round in 2002. In campaigning, Le Pen vowed to abandon the euro, reinstate the nation's borders and curb immigration if she won. But the party fared badly in June parliamentary elections, taking just eight seats out of 577. Tensions since then burst into the open when Le Pen's right-hand man Florian Philippot quit last week and looks set to go his own way. - Netherlands - The anti-Islam Freedom Party (PVV) of Geert Wilders became in March the second party in parliament, with 20 seats in the 150-member parliament. Wilders tweeted after the AfD score: "The message is clear. We are not Islamic nations." - Austria - The eurosceptic and anti-immigrant Freedom Party of Austria (FPOe) came close to winning the presidency in December, which would have made its leader the European Union's first far-right president. Its support in the October 15 elections is being challenged by the People's Party (OeVP), which has similar policies and a popular new leader, Sebastian Kurz. The FPOe, founded by former Nazis in 1956, is now seen in opinion polls as battling for second place. - Hungary - The Movement for a Better Hungary, known as Jobbik, is ultra-nationalist and eurosceptic. It is the second largest party in the legislature but has been outflanked by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's own hardline anti-immigration stance. - Italy - The Northern League is a "regionalist" formation that evolved into an anti-euro and anti-immigrant party that secured 18 seats in the 2013 parliamentary election. The next general election must be held by spring 2018 and the party is hovering at around 14 percent of voter intentions. - Greece - The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn finished third in the September 2015 election, with seven percent of the vote and 18 MPs. One later defected and the party is now the fourth biggest in parliament. - Sweden - The Sweden Democrats party, with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, made a breakthrough in September 2014 to become the country's third biggest party with 48 of 349 seats and nearly 13 percent of the vote. - Bulgaria - The nationalist United Patriots coalition entered government for the first time in May after coming third in a March election. It is the junior party in the governing coalition. - Slovakia - In March, 2016, the People's Party Our Slovakia, benefited from Europe's refugee crisis to enter parliament for the first time, winning 14 seats out of 150.
