The German anti-Islamification party PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) -- founded in October 2014 over growing concerns about the increasing presence and influence of Muslims in Europe -- has
received a surprisingly high 10 percent of the vote share in the Dresden mayoral election.
One-third of Germans had observed an increasing Islamification of their country
It was PEGIDA's first election, and the party's candidate Tatjana Festerling finished fourth in the race for the mayor's chair. A pre-election poll by the Technical University of Dresden had suggested that PEGIDA would receive only one to two percent of the vote. Festerling far exceeded these expectations.
The candidate from Chancellor Angela Merkel's party -- the Christian Democratic Union -- finished third with only 15 percent of the vote, just ahead of Festerling.
Despite efforts to repress the movement, survey data shows many Germans share PEGIDA's concerns and the group's reasons for leading large demonstrations in Germany over the past eight months. A
poll from December 2014 indicated about half of all Germans understood the reasons for PEGIDA's demonstrations. Similarly, a
YouGov survey the same month also revealed that 30 percent of respondents "felt sympathetic for the demonstrations," 19 percent were "understanding," and 26 percent approved -- at least in part -- of the demonstrations.
Another
poll in December 2014 by
Der Spiegel showed that more than one-third of Germans had observed an increasing Islamification of their country, and 65 percent felt the federal government was not adequately responsive to growing concerns regarding asylum policy and immigration.
A
report from early 2015 indicated more than half (57 percent) of Germans think Islam is dangerous. As well, the report said that "40 percent felt like 'foreigners in their own country,' while 24 percent stated that they would like to prevent further Muslim immigration." Further
polling from January had respondents suggesting that "[o]ne German in eight would join an anti-Muslim march if a rapidly-growing protest movement organized one in their home towns."
