AfD party conference in Essen: Why Chrupalla has to be nervous before his re-election

This Saturday, the AfD will elect its new executive board at the federal party conference in Essen’s Grugahalle – which will at least be the old one at the top. Nevertheless, party leader Alice Weidel and her co-chairman Tino Chrupalla will be nervous before the vote.

After a series of scandals that are far from over and a European election result that would have been considered a defeat just a few months ago, the AfD could remain without a parliamentary group in the new EU Parliament. In addition, there is unrest at the grassroots level following the disempowerment of the former EU top candidate Maximilian Krah.

The party leadership is hoping that the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in September will have a disciplining effect on the 600 delegates. But traditionally, no one can predict how AfD party conferences will turn out. Experience has shown that an open battle is possible at any time. This is all the more true in a place like the Grugahalle, where the party ousted its first chairman, Bernd Lucke, in the summer of 2015.

Contested candidacies are part of the mandatory program

It is clear where the party’s trigger points lie. Firstly, there is the election of the executive board. Aside from the two chairmen who are running again, a third of the positions need to be filled. Vice-chairwoman Mariana Harder-Kühnel is not running again. In addition, the assessors Christina Baum and Carlo Clemens as well as the deputy treasurer Harald Weyel are apparently not running again. And Krah’s position on the executive board also needs to be filled, of course.

There are already agreements between the important regional associations regarding the successor. At least one list is circulating. But contested candidates are actually part of the AfD’s mandatory program.

Two years ago, Weidel and Chrupalla had to prevail against alternative candidates at the chaotic party conference in Riesa – with Chrupalla in particular not looking particularly good with 53 percent. Even if there is no opposing candidate this time, the delegates could punish the co-chairman again. The nationalist camp in particular resents him for dropping Krah.

AfD wants to learn from FPÖ and Rassemblement National

Secondly, regardless of the election result, the party congress could send a signal that Chrupalla’s last term in office has begun. A good dozen regional associations want to introduce the position of general secretary from 2025 – and at the same time abolish the current dual leadership.

The proposal for a statute, which requires a majority of two thirds of the delegates, is supported by the network around Bundestag parliamentary group vice-chairman Sebastian Münzenmaier. However, they are now showing a willingness to compromise. According to information from the star An amendment has already been voted on for the party congress: It should now also include the option of a general secretary with dual leadership.

Either way, the network’s goal remains to professionalize the party along the lines of the Austrian FPÖ and the French Rassemblement National (RN) and to make it capable of forming a coalition at the federal level by 2029. However, the scandal-prone MEP Krah is disrupting this plan – trigger point three.

His eccentric chauvinism and open historical revisionism generate high click numbers on social networks such as Tiktok. At the same time, however, Krah’s escapades led to ever new tensions with the RN and other European right-wing parties – and ultimately to the AfD being expelled from the EU group “Identity and Democracy” (ID).

In order to mend the rift and sideline the unpredictable MP, Krah was not included in the new AfD delegation in Brussels after the European elections. This sparked maximum outrage in the AfD’s so-called front group, but also in some of the East German regional associations.

The new delegation leader René Aust has been accused of “treason” hundreds of times online. However, the MEP, who previously sat in the Thuringian state parliament, seems to be protected from a frontal attack by the right-wing extremist camp as deputy to the state AfD chairman Björn Höcke.

A proposal as a test of strength

Nevertheless, the Bavarian regional association has submitted a motion stating: “The Alternative for Germany understands that smear campaigns based on lies and suspicion against its top candidates elected by the party base – due to a lack of counterarguments – are the only remaining anti-democratic weapon to damage the reputation of the entire party and to divide us within the party.”

Krah is likely to exploit this motion, according to party circles. He wants to use it to force the party leadership to reintegrate him into the Brussels delegation and, at the same time, to weaken Weidel and Chrupalla. The vote on the motion – or the counter-motion to not deal with it, which has long been prepared – could therefore become the real test of strength at the party conference.

Aust was in third place on the EU election list, behind Krah and Petr Bystron, who is also tainted by scandals. And he is part of Münzenmaier’s network.

Now – and this is trigger point number 4 – he is supposed to find new partners for his own parliamentary group after the final rejection by the RN in Brussels, which is proving to be extremely complicated. The required minimum number of 23 MPs from seven nations could be reached numerically. But the remaining numbers in the far right area seem too extreme even to the AfD leadership.

The fact that the negotiations have so far been unsuccessful is likely to dampen the mood at the party conference, especially since the registration deadline is July 3. Weidel was accordingly cautious in her comments. She was “very confident” that a faction would be formed, she said. “And if not: Before we join forces with obscurantists, we will very confidently stay alone and explore the options over the next few years.”

Several protest demonstrations registered

The AfD does not even have the fifth trigger point under control. After the city of Essen and its trade fair company tried in vain to prevent the party conference, the party’s opponents are all the more determined to protest. Several rallies and demonstrations have been registered; together with the “Camp Against Racism”, they are expected to attract tens of thousands of people.

On Saturday morning, left-wing radicals attacked delegates and journalists. Several streets and access roads to the party conference were blocked. The police had to provide escort protection for politicians. They are deployed with around 4,000 officers.