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Old and new AfD federal spokesman Tino Chrupalla and the new co-chairwoman Alice Weidel in the Sachsenarena in Riesa: now in office for two years
Photo: MATTHIAS RIETSCHEL / REUTERS
When the result flickered across the screens, Alice Weidel's relief was obvious, her eyes glistening with tears.
She got 67 percent, her opponent, Nicolaus Fest, just under 21, the remaining 12 percent of the delegates didn't want either of them.
Considering that Weidel allegedly did not want to run at all, as her environment had repeatedly said before the party congress, this is a strong result.
She then also hugged Tino Chrupalla, with whom she will lead the AfD from now on.
It's the expected result, the party is playing it safe - and is now also moving in the federal executive board to where the AfD has been for a long time, far to the right.
Together they were already the top duo in the federal election campaign and have led the parliamentary group in the Bundestag since last autumn.
It's a classic division of labor: West-East pairing, the 43-year-old comes from Baden-Württemberg, the 47-year-old from Saxony, woman and man, academic and master painter.
Those who ran against them to make the party appear more moderate, who wanted a different style, didn't stand a chance.
Representatives of this camp had left the party in recent months, most recently co-party leader Jörg Meuthen in January.
Weidel commented sarcastically on his entry into the "Centre Party", once a party of German Catholicism: Meuthen had rented an expensive room in the federal press conference for his press conference, "a confessional in a cemetery would have been sufficient".
In Riesa it was not just about the former boss, but also about the losses in the last ten elections, in Schleswig-Holstein the AfD even flew out of the state parliament.
The Saxon head of state Jörg Urban, who, like the Thuringian head of state Björn Höcke, belongs to the now officially dissolved right-wing extremist "wing" network, spoke of the "trouble of the levels" in which one had arrived after the previous "victory marches".
This can only be changed by a »solid approach«, a »big conscious step towards professionalisation«, but also »the development of new media«.
The power struggle of the past few months and the distrust among each other were also visible around the election of the new federal executive board.
On Saturday, a delegate received a reprimand from the meeting management because he had previously accused Chrupalla's opponent, Norbert Kleinwächter, of spreading "lies".
The re-elected Federal Treasurer Carsten Hütter even had to be asked by a delegate whether he worked or had worked for an intelligence service – which he denied.
Relieved »yes«
The old and new chairman Chrupalla - he has held the office alone since Meuthen's departure in January - had had to read a lot of malice over the past few months: his oratory skills were criticized by party colleagues, his leadership style, often anonymously via the media.
Chrupalla's performances, however, had become more sure-footed in the past few months.
That should also benefit him in Riesa.
On Saturday he read only parts of his speech from the sheet - and the applause made it clear that the mood among many delegates was on his side.
In his speech, Chrupalla, who once ran his own business as a master craftsman, presented himself as the man of the simple members.
He is the “federal spokesman for the base”.
If he is attacked, it is only to "silence it."
And he located the AfD: One is “not a second FDP and not a second CDU and SPD”, “does not participate in compulsory vaccination, war and open borders”.
His attacks on CDU leader Friedrich Merz also drew applause: he was "not a patriot, he wants the world war and he wants compulsory vaccination".
When his result of around 53 percent then appeared on the screens in the hall, a loud, relieved "yes" sounded from the corner of the Saxon delegates, his state association.
His opponent Norbert Kleinwächter only got around 36 percent.
The Brandenburger was considered the last hope of the former Meuthen camp.
Once he even belonged to Oskar Lafontaine's left-wing WASG, when he was "studying", as he remarked almost apologetically at his introduction.
He was “not a camp stallion, not a thread spinner”, which is why his career in the AfD was always “hung by a thread”.
However, he is convinced that he can now help the party to find a different style, a "bourgeois party, liberal and conservative".
Kleinwächter even declared that they represented the »majority in our country, they just don’t know it«.
His statement about "illegal Merkel migrants," hundreds of whom were given German citizenship, showed that Kleinwächter can also effortlessly play the AfD keyboard.
That didn't help him either.
»Many are frustrated, many are discouraged«
The AfD MEP Fest performed even worse than Kleinwächter, with just under 21 percent.
He campaigned for harmony in the AfD, which he also "brought about" as a temporary Berlin AfD state leader.
But Fest's speech turned into a devastating description of the situation - or "AfD bashing," as a delegate later accused him.
The AfD, Fest claimed, was “excellently positioned in terms of its program”, but was “not heard” and “not acknowledged”.
And asked who wanted to vote for a party in which members declared after the election of the top: "All stupid, all incompetent, all corrupt".
Many in the party and supporters "are turning away, many are frustrated, many are discouraged."
The party does appear to be suffering from a sharp decline in membership, at least that's what one delegate complained about.
The AfD does not want to announce the official total number, even when the annual report was presented on Friday evening, it was not disclosed – it is rumored that the number is now less than 30,000.
The old federal executive only announced that between the end of November 2020 and mid-June 2022, 9,893 people had terminated their membership, including eight members who had been expelled from the party.
In the same period, 5536 new members were admitted.
At least Chrupalla admitted that some members had left the party because of the Corona policy.
Otherwise, Chrupalla located the crisis of the past few months primarily among his opponents on the federal executive board, just like Weidel: "Voters hate nothing more than a party that is concerned with itself," she said in her application speech.
You have to put the country in the foreground, not your own sensitivities.
For the future, she wanted the delegates to realize that not "every blow to the neck is a knockout."
She also wants to have identified the issues of the future: inflation, rising prices, the energy crisis.
"An inflation rate of 10 percent is nothing, we'll see more," Weidel oracles, "what do we think will actually be going on in this country" - and then the AfD would be the only party that would solve problems.
Höcke busy in the background
As was the case two years ago at the party conference in Dresden, one person is particularly active in the background in Riesa: Björn Höcke.
With his followers, he had already pushed through a motion for a change in the statutes on Friday, according to which a one-pointer can also be elected in the future.
In Riesa, he made it sufficiently clear that he wants this soon.
Although this is “still too early now”, it won’t be in two years’ time.
That's exactly what happened on Saturday, when around two-thirds of the delegates spoke out against a one-pointer for this round.
Criticism of a one-pointer from former Meuthen loyalists such as Albrecht Glaser, who described this as "against the DNA of this party" - ironed Höcke.
"The AfD's DNA must be success, not dual leadership," he said, to which "everything is subordinate."
He also indicated that he would also like the post of Secretary General in the model for a future one-point leader.
The chairman should be "reinforced" and "flanked" by a general secretary.
Höcke's successes
As early as Friday morning, just before 10 a.m., Höcke was asked by journalists about his ambitions.
The Thuringian AfD boss was still covered when it came to a possible candidacy for the federal presidency.
He feels "actually quite happy in Erfurt," he said.
However, he referred to the party structure commission, a new body that he wants to have installed by application and for which he is traded to chair.
He told the delegates that they should create “more effective structures” to make the AfD “more powerful”.
The federal board should not be slowed down by "narcissists" as in the past.
The election of the Federal Arbitration Court also showed that the right-wing extremists are continuing to consolidate in the party.
Gereon Bollmann, for example, was elected with 76 percent.
With the cheers of the Saxons, Roland Ulbrich also made it onto the judges' panel.
The lawyer explained that there would be no "PAV orgies" with him - PAV stands for party exclusion proceedings.
With 52 percent, Ulbrich made it to the Federal Arbitration Court.
A vote on Friday showed how much some in the party even mourn the right-wing extremist Andreas Kalbitz, whom Meuthen had thrown out of the party with his majority on the federal executive board in May 2020.
The Brandenburg state association had applied for its ban on performance to be lifted.
Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, also part of the network, campaigned for this: Regardless of how one feels about the "person Kalbitz", he "didn't vanish into thin air, he is and works in the Brandenburg parliamentary group".
In the background, there had been agreements not to deal with the application because of the state elections in October in Lower Saxony.
In the end, a referral was voted against – albeit narrowly: 46 percent would have liked this.
