BERLIN, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- With only three days remaining until the German parliamentary election, the right-wing populist AfD party stood at the third place in Bavaria with nine percent of voter support, according to the latest poll by the GMS institute published Thursday.
GMS surveyed 1,005 voters in the southern German state of Bavaria between Sept. 14 and 20.
According to the poll, the Bavarian CSU will continue its traditional lead in the elections at 47 percent voter support, followed by the SPD at 18 percent, the AfD at nine percent, the Greens at eight percent and The Left at four percent.
The AfD, which competes with the CSU mainly in refugee policy, has recently reached figures between 9 and 12 percent in nationwide surveys.
In the federal election campaign, the CSU is already considering the state elections in autumn of 2018, in which they want to defend their absolute majority and keep the AfD out of Parliament. The CSU is trying to position itself by calling for an upper limit for refugees.
Head of CSU Horst Seehofer and Chancellor Angela Merkel as chairman of the sister party CDU have officially settled their dispute about this topic, but are still at odds. Merkel continues to reject an upper limit.
According to the poll, 61 percent of Bavarian voters expressed their concern that in refugee policy, the CSU has renounced important demands in favor of the CDU.
Some 91 percent of AfD voters and 52 percent of CSU voters agreed with this opinion. 88 percent of CSU supporters still wish for Merkel to continue her chancellorship for the fourth term.
