Bundestag election

AfD leadership nominates Weidel as candidate for chancellor

The AfD executive committee has nominated party leader Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor in the upcoming federal elections.

(Bild: snapshot / SZ-Photo / picturedesk.com)

For the first time, the AfD wants to put forward a female candidate for Chancellor in a Bundestag election: The party leadership nominated Alice Weidel on Saturday afternoon. Confirmation by the party conference in January is considered a mere formality. The AfD has no real chance of becoming chancellor due to a lack of possible government partners. 

Alice Weidel, leader of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, is to lead her party into the next federal election as candidate for chancellor. According to participants in Berlin, the AfD Federal Executive Committee and the state chairpersons unanimously agreed to nominate the 45-year-old for election at the party conference in Riesa in January. Confirmation there is considered a formality.

AfD in second place in polls in Germany
This is the first time in the party's almost twelve-year history that a candidate for chancellor has been named. At the presentation, Weidel spoke of a "great day" for her party. Co-party leader Tino Chrupalla expressed similar sentiments.

Alice Weidel sees the AfD's current poll results as a mandate to govern and uses them to justify her candidacy for chancellor. With 18 to 19 percent in nationwide polls, the AfD is currently positioned behind the CDU/CSU, which reaches 32 to 33 percent. Despite these figures, Weidel's candidacy remains largely symbolic, as no majority for an AfD-led government is foreseeable in the Bundestag. In Germany, as in Austria with regard to the FPÖ, there is a cross-party consensus to rule out a coalition with the AfD. All established parties categorically reject cooperation with the right-wing populist AfD.

"Whoever votes AfD, votes Nazis!"
On Saturday morning, demonstrators gathered in front of the AfD headquarters in Berlin to protest against Alice Weidel's nomination as candidate for chancellor. The participants, organized by a coalition of civil society groups, carried placards with messages such as "Never again fascism", "Whoever votes AfD, votes Nazis!" and "AfD ban now". This action highlighted the controversial public perception of the party and its lead candidate.