AfD elects Weidel as candidate for chancellor – with standing up and clapping

The AfD party conference nominated Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor. With the 45-year-old, the party chose its own candidate for chancellorship for the first time in its history on Saturday. The aim is to take over government responsibility after the federal election, said AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla. “She is the future chancellor,” emphasized Chrupalla.

The election was made to thunderous applause. There was no counting of the votes. Weidel was chosen by so-called acclamation – the delegates rose from their seats as a sign of their approval. Accompanied by a light show, loud music and cheers, Weidel then took the stage, painted a bleak picture of the situation in Germany and listed the AfD’s positions in the election campaign.

She told the approximately 600 delegates, many of whom were waving German flags, that the AfD was needed to make Germany “strong, rich and safe again.” The borders must be closed completely and the message sent to the world: “The German borders are closed.”

“We will put Nord Stream back into operation,” she shouted about the natural gas pipeline to Russia to applause. She accused the Union of copying the AfD’s election program and insulted the CDU as a “fraud party” that needed to be overtaken. The AfD leader also made it clear that she has no problem with the term “remigration”. There was thunderous applause for her exclamation: “When we are at the helm, we will tear down all the wind turbines. Down with these windmills of shame.”

With a delay of more than two hours, the federal party conference in the Saxon city of Riesa was only able to begin around midday. Due to numerous blockages of access routes by left-wing counter-demonstrators, the arrival of many delegates was delayed.

The two-day meeting was originally scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and ended up starting a few minutes after 12 p.m. Chrupalla, who gave the opening speech, called the journey “more than arduous”.

Chrupalla said before co-party leader Weidel’s planned election as the top candidate for the federal election on February 23rd that he saw his job as keeping “our front woman’s back” free. He himself declared in September that he would not run for chancellor.

He also addressed Weidel’s online conversation with US entrepreneur Elon Musk on Platform X on Thursday. Chrupalla described Musk as someone “who can park rockets backwards” and said: “We have partners in the West and in the East.”

As party and parliamentary group leader, Weidel has been one of the most famous faces of the AfD for years. In the plenary session of the Bundestag, the economist with a doctorate made a name for herself as a sharp-tongued speaker. Weidel’s central theme is internal security and the consequences of immigration.

As an openly homosexual politician who is raising two sons with her partner in Switzerland, Weidel is an exception in her party. She is also one of the few prominent women in the male-dominated AfD.

The content of the two-day party conference is about the AfD’s election program for the federal election. A draft is available. This calls for, for example, an exit from the EU, the euro and the Paris climate agreement. However, several points are still controversial. There are numerous amendments, for example in the areas of foreign, energy, migration and family policy, which will be debated and voted on in Riesa.

A controversial point on the agenda also revolves around the young AfD: The AfD leadership wants to replace the youth organization “Junge Alternative” (JA), which the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies as a “certain extremist effort,” with a new organization called “Patriotic “Youth” who are more closely tied to the party.

According to their own statement, the AfD leadership hopes that the reform will result in more action in cases of misconduct. Experts also see the motivation as being that the AfD youth would be better protected from a ban if they were no longer an independent club.