At today’s AfD conference, Jörg Meuthen has been reelected as one of the the two co-chairs of the party. Although there was no other candidate, he garnered only 72% “yes” votes. Meuthen was once promoted by Petry because of his convenient market liberal profile, but quickly became friendly with the more radical elements. The election…
After Frauke Petry, herself not exactly a centrist by conventional standards, has left the party, the rightmost factions in the AfD are becoming even more influential (or perhaps just more visible). The party will elect a new leadership this coming weekend, and Andre Poggenburg will stand as a candidate for deputy party leader. Poggenburg, who…
Seven months before the election, what’s up with the Alternative für Deutschland? I’ve kept repeating this since the Alternative für Deutschland’s ascendancy in the polls began in late 2015: the AfD’s electoral popularity depends on a) steering away from open right-wing extremism, which has frustrated previous attempts to establish a right-wing populist party in Germany, and…
Last weekend, a video of a speech that Björn Höcke had given at a New Right think tank in November was put online (gone now, but google it – there must be copies). In that speech, Höcke (originally trained as a history teacher), using a lot of jargon from biology, talked about African and European…
One major asset of the pre-Petry AfD was its disconnect from the Extreme Right. But the AfD in Thuringia has always been a funny bunch, and Lucke tried (without success) to remove its leader Björn Höcke from the party. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="500"] Photo by Tekniska museet [/caption] With Lucke gone and asylum applications at…
Welcome back dear friends / to the show that never ends: In the latest instalment of the great AfD soap, national leader Lucke is trying to remove Höcke as leader in Thuringia over Höcke’s friendly words towards the NPD. Contrary to some reports, Lucke is not (yet) trying to kick Höcke out of the party…
Various media report this morning that the AfD caucus in the Thuringia state parliament has asked two of their MPs – Jens Krumpe and Oskar Helmerich – to resign their select committee memberships and/or has withdrawn the whip from them. Both had refused to sign the “Erfurt Resolution” that was initiated by their leader Björn…