A vote in Germanys national parliament (Bundestag) has led to fears that the firewall supposedly separating mainstream political parties and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been blown apart.

The bill fell short of 12 votes on Friday. Twelve MPs from Merz’s parliamentary group were absent. The setback came after Merz passed a majority with AfD for a non-binding motion on migration earlier this week,

The German parliament rejected an opposition draft law on tightening immigration policy on Friday, two days after the opposition conservatives were accused of breaching an agreement against cooperating with the far right for the first time.