Concern is growing over the far-right Alternative for Germany party’s rise ahead of the German election. Its U.S. supporters include Elon Musk and JD Vance.

The AfD’s appeal to Vance, Musk and others in President Trump’s orbit is its shared distrust of E.U. regulations, limits on speech as they apply to the far right, and, perhaps above all, the AfD’s signature opposition to immigration.

The leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, a conservative who has adopted many of the AfD’s hard-line positions on immigration, used his closing statement of the debate to promise his voters that he would never allow the AfD into his government. Under him, he said, the firewall would hold.

On a wet evening in Suhl, in the former East Germany, a smattering of youthful faces were among hundreds lining up to hear from an unlikely idol - Björn Höcke, one of the most controversial figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

The leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been endorsed by Donald Trump - and looks set to make huge gains in this weekend's snap election.