Attempt to Pre[-]empt Ban: Far-Right NPD Asks Court to Confirm Its Legality

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Germany's far-right NPD party has taken the unusual step of asking the country's highest court to confirm its constitutionality in an effort to avert a possible future attempt by the government to outlaw it. Mainstream politicians have dismissed the move as a populist stunt and say it is high time authorities move ahead with their bid to ban the party.

The far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) faces a possible bid to outlaw it on the grounds that it has an extremist manifesto that challenges Germany's democratic constitution. The country's domestic intelligence agency has described it as a "racist, anti-Semitic, revisionist" party bent on removing democracy and forming a Fourth Reich. » | cro – with wire reports | Wednesday, November 14, 2012