Getty Angela Merkel looks set to win the German election but the far right AFD will see success too

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German polls suggest that the Alternative for Germany party (AFD) could win up to 60 seats after using anti-immigration rhetoric during the election. The gain for the populist party will deal a blow to Mrs Merkel who has pleaded with German voters to only “vote for parties loyal to our constitution". AFD has won support with the electorate after vowing to keep the pressure on Mrs Merkel to answer why she let in a million asylum seekers into the country. Support for the AfD, jumped two points to 11 percent in a Forsa poll, putting it on course to become the first hard-right party in more than half a century to clear the five per cent hurdle and enter parliament.

The party wants to launch a probe into whether the German chancellor broke the law by allowing in around a million refugees at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015. The AfD's top candidate Alexander Gauland is looking forward to the party being welcomed into the Bundestag to stir up debate. He said: “It must get into the Bundestag lower house so that debates happen again in this parliament because on fundamental questions on the nation everyone is always in agreement (and) this parliament ... has become totally boring.” But Mr Garland has come in for criticism after Mrs Merkel blasted him for telling the nation to be proud of the actions of German soldiers in the two world wars.

Getty AFD has won support of the electorate after vowing to keep the pressure on Mrs Merkel on migrants

Mrs Merkel said: “We have to take a clear stance when it is about our basic values.” She also urged people to go out and vote and turn away from the populist party. The German Chancellor’s Conservative Christian Democrat Party are holding steady on 36 per cent, while the Social Democratic Party ceded one point to 22 percent.

Getty Far right demonstrators have protested against Mrs Merkel's migrant policy

Despite the big gap, SPD leader Martin Schulz told Bild newspaper he had not given up hope of victory and days ahead of the election 37 percent of voters were still undecided. Attacking Mrs Merkel's campaign as "wooly", Mr Schulz said: "Angela Merkel is not good for the country and must be replaced." Jakob Augstein, a commentator for the left leaning Der Spiegel magazine blasted: “Merkel deserves to be voted out. She bears the responsibility for Nazis entering the Bundestag.” However, all of the mainstream parties have ruled out working with the AfD, which may emerge as the third largest party; but Mr Gauland said it would ultimately work towards being able to govern in the medium or long-term.

German election: Photos from the election Mon, September 25, 2017 Latest pictures during the upcoming general elections in Germany Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 22 Demonstrators scuffle with police during the protest against the anti-immigration party Alternative for Deutschland AfD, after German general election (Bundestagswahl) in Berlin