Germany's AfD leaders face strife at conference

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was seen as the big winner in the recent European election. It was able to significantly increase its vote share and can now claim to be the second strongest political force in Germany behind the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

And yet there is unrest in the party. Numerous scandals and affairs involving prominent AfD figures have been making negative headlines for months.

On top of this, the 15.9% it took in the EU election represented something of a blow to its expectations, given the party had polled at 20% in 2023. 

Now many party members have begun to criticize the leadership, particularly its two co-leaders, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla.

Both will again run as chair at the AfD conference being held in Essen, western Germany, this weekend.

Scandals involving AfD politician Maximilian Krah

The scandals surrounding AfD's top candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah, caused discord within the party. First, Krah's name was linked to an affair involving illegal Russian payments, and one of his employees was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

Then, in an interview with an Italian newspaper before the election, Krah suggested that not all of Adolf Hitler's SS, the infamous Nazi military unit, should be considered criminals.

Weidel and Chrupalla consequently banned him from making any campaign appearances shortly before the European election. After the election, his own party colleagues excluded Krah from the AfD delegation in the EU Parliament.

But Krah remains a well-connected politician, and fierce resistance to these decisions formed within the party.

Numerous AfD figures accused Weidel and Chrupalla of weak leadership, saying they were punishing a successful campaigner who had won many young people for the party.

The end of the dual leadership?

One motion at this weekend's party conference appears to be aimed squarely at ousting Chrupalla. Numerous AfD delegates are calling for the party's dual leadership model to be replaced by a single leader, supported by a secretary general. The CDU, for example, also uses this model.

Political scientist Benjamin Höhne, from Germany's Chemnitz University of Technology, thinks this is unlikely, however. "The party isn't ready yet to install a one-person party leadership under which all members would subordinate themselves," he told DW.

He believes a single leader would struggle to unify the party's many factions. While the faction around right-wing extremist Björn Höcke dominates the AfD, "there are also national-conservative and national-liberal members," Höhne said.

Shortly before the start of the party conference, Chrupalla announced that he would be standing again alongside Weidel for the chair. "A relationship of trust has developed with Alice Weidel that I have never experienced in politics before," he recently told the German Die Welt newspaper. "We accept our differences, and that is precisely why we are successful as a duo."

He also downplayed the discussion about the handling of Krah before the European elections, saying that he didn't think that would cause "that much excitement."

The AfD's dual leadership has been called into question before, including by Stephan Brandner, an AfD Bundestag politician and a member of the party's executive board. "Optimization is always desirable, including that of the party structure," Brandner told DW. "In my opinion, this includes, among other things, the perspective of moving away from a dual leadership."

At the same time, Brandner is against a short-term change. "The current federal executive board has worked together professionally and successfully, so not too much should change," he said, adding that the dual leadership has also "worked well."

Open conflicts possible in Essen

Nevertheless, Höhne admits that disputes at the party conference are not out of the question as the party has what he calls a "high degree of internal democracy."

"This makes open conflict more likely," he said, adding that he expects a radical shift to the right.

"The AfD will maintain a high level of radicalism because that has been successful in elections so far. With its signals to the far right, it manages to almost completely tie the right-wing camp to itself, especially in eastern Germany."

The success of the more radical far-right wing is evident in the party's relatively relaxed attitude to the latest criminal proceedings against Björn Höcke, the AfD state chairman in Thuringia, who has been accused yet again of using a Nazi-era slogan at a campaign event.

In a previous trial, he was sentenced to a fine of €13,000 (around $14,000). Although the verdict has not yet been finalized, if he is convicted again, he could face a prison sentence.

A broad alliance of churches, trade unions and associations has announced its opposition to the AfD, which is being monitored by the German domestic intelligence agency as a suspected right-wing extremist organization. They warn that the party poses a racist, antisemitic and anti-democratic threat to Germany.

This article was originally written in German.

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