Right or right: 600 AfD delegates have the choice
Created: 06/16/2022, 13:04
By: Katja Thorwarth
Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel: Who will be the new AfD board?
Weidel's role is unclear.
© IMAGO/Emmanuele Contini
The AfD is currently led by Tino Chrupalla alone, who wants to run for the top post again.
At the party conference in Riesa, the executive board is re-elected.
From Friday (June 17) the AfD party conference will take place in the eastern German town of Riesa.
600 delegates elect a new AfD board.
Follow the events at the party conference in Riesa here in our news ticker.
Riesa/Frankfurt - Around 600 AfD delegates will meet in Riesa, Saxony, from Friday (June 17) to Sunday (June 19) to elect a new party leadership.
Since the departure of former co-boss Jörg Meuthen, Saxon Tino Chrupalla has been leading the AfD alone.
Chrupalla wants to compete again and will probably have to face Norbert Kleinwaechter, a member of the Bundestag.
This belongs to that wing of the party that describes itself as moderate.
"Let's completely renovate the party and give it a new coat of paint," wrote the 36-year-old in an "Agenda for the party chairmanship".
The paper is available to the dpa.
The AfD MEP Nicolaus Fest is running as second chairman (co-speaker).
Others have not yet officially announced their intention to run.
Before the AfD party conference in Riesa: Björn Höcke comments on the dual leadership
First, however, the party congress has to decide whether it should stay with a single leader or whether the AfD will get a leadership duo again.
The Thuringian AfD right-wing extremist Björn Höcke commented on this question on Facebook.
In the past, the AfD had “unfortunately had little luck in choosing the federal spokesman”: “A spokesman regularly presumed to impose his very personal ideas on the whole party.”
However, Höcke does not see the “double leadership principle” as a “permanent solution”, rather it requires federal spokesmen: “who, regardless of which trend they belong to, develop the power to integrate across all camps”.
The party conference could show whether Höcke is keeping an eye on himself.
Another unclear personality is Alice Weidel.
According to media information, she wants to give up her state presidency in Baden-Württemberg.
Now it is speculated that she could also run for the post of AfD leader.
The top personnel of the AfD - coming and going
View photo gallery
Chrupalla counter-candidate Kleinwächter sees AfD before party congress as “conservative-liberal people’s party”
In addition to Höcke, Alexander Gauland also spoke up.
Despite the poor results in the past state elections in the west, he sees no east-west divide.
In his own words, he also does not expect that a “directional decision” will be made in Riesa.
“The party is a clear opposition party.
She should stay that way.
Any attempt to turn us into some kind of government likeness I would consider wrong.
But I don't think that's a problem at this party congress," said Gauland.
also read
Putin's "Hunger Plan" in Three Acts: Historian Declares Next "Stage of War" and Predicts Unrest
Melnyk puts pressure on Scholz because of his trip to Kyiv: "We need HEAVY weapons"
Chrupalla's opponent, Kleinwächter, has other goals as a possible new federal spokesman: "Let's represent positively what we want and what we stand for, and not just be against it." The AfD is a "conservative-liberal people's party" with "reasonable and legitimate positions “.
He described the recent loss of votes in the state elections in the west of the country as threatening the existence of the country.
The AfD party conference is expected to start at 10 a.m. on Friday and end on Sunday.
(Katja Thorwarth)
