German AfD chooses man and woman as party leader | Abroad

The largest opposition party to our eastern neighbors chose on the one hand the current group leader in the Bundestag, Frau Weidel, as the party leader, Herr Chrupalla. But the fierce opponents of immigration and foreigners have paid attention not only to gender, but also to origin. Because the woman comes from the old Federal Republic (west), and the male candidate from the former GDR (east).

Lesbian partner

Alice Weidel has made a career in the international business world and lives with a lesbian partner and two adopted children in Biel, Switzerland, just across the border from Germany. These circumstances did not prevent her from assuming leadership of the right-wing populist party. Weidel is also accused of accepting illegal donations from abroad.

The pro-Russian AfD, which unconditionally supports President Putin’s regime, has also hoisted Tino Chrupalla on the shield. This house painter from eastern Saxony, like Weidel, is regarded as a representative of the defunct Flügel, the right flank of the AfD, which is seen by the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the German AIVD, as a threat to the German state.

Defeat

The choice of the pair is also a defeat for West German party chairman Jörg Meuthen, who represents the moderate conservatives in the party. He had pushed forward the unknown outsiders Joanna Cotar and Joachim Wundrak. But this female parliamentarian and the former general of the Bundeswehr could not dampen Der Flügel’s radical course and received only a quarter of the votes.

At the last party congress, this wing had declared itself in favor of a ‘Dexit’, an exit of Germany from the European Union. Originally the party was founded in protest against the euro and the costly financial lifebuoys for Southern Europe. Many prominent economists have left the AfD in recent years, when it attracted more neo-Nazis and right-wing radicals.

Dexit

Until now, the Dexit was only a theoretical option for the AfD. Now the party wants only economic cooperation from a European perspective. This includes the establishment of a ‘new European alliance of interests’. Russian President Putin has been flirting with this for years. He wants a similar ‘cooperation from Vladivostok to Lisbon’.

Behind the scenes, the East German Hitler fan Björn Höcke in particular is pulling the strings. This ex-teacher is the AfD figurehead from rural Thuringia, and is forcing the party ever further to the right with its radical course. According to a German judge, he can be officially classified as a ‘fascist’.

Just under half of the 32,000 AfD members had voted online for the party leaders.

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