The party leadership of Alternative for Germany (AfD) voted on Sunday to replace its “Young Alternative” (JA) group with a new group under greater party oversight.
The decision comes after Germany’s domestic intelligence service classified JA as a confirmed extremist movement, ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for early February 23.
What changes are planned?
JA is relatively independent. Association members – except board members – do not have to be in the AfD.
This will not be possible in the new organisation, except for the under-16s, who will not yet be able to join the AfD as members.
The board’s proposal was approved after a lively debate at a two-day party conference in the eastern German city of Riesa, securing the two-thirds majority needed for the rule change.
The board members have suggested the name “Deshbhakt Yuva” for the organization.
The now-adopted change to the statute stipulates that the youth organization’s activities “must not be contrary to the orders and principles of the Party.”
It states that the AfD and its youth organizations – for members up to the age of 36 – should “promote each other’s activities to the best of their ability.”
The party leadership has long been dissatisfied with JA, saying that its difficult-to-control activities could bring disrepute to the entire party.
In 2023, Germany’s BfV domestic intelligence services said it had received indications that there was sufficient evidence that JA had aspirations against the free democratic fundamentals for it to be treated as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization.
The AfD leadership hopes the reform will give it greater control over misconduct in the JA. Experts also see the motivation as that AfD Youth, if it is no longer an independent association, would be better protected from any possible sanctions.
The BfV is monitoring the national AfD party as a suspected right-wing extremist group, with several state-level party organizations already classified as such.
How optimistic is the AfD about its electoral prospects?
On Saturday, about 600 party delegates approved co-leader Alice Weidel as the AfD’s chancellor candidate ahead of the general election.
The vote caps an eventful week for Weidel, who on Thursday was hosted by Donald Trump ally and Tesla tycoon Elon Musk for an extensive livestream on his X social media platform.
The AfD is second in opinion polls with an average of 20%, while a poll on Saturday gave them 22%.
The conservative CDU/CSU leads with 31%, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats are battling for third place with their Green coalition partners with 15% and 14% respectively.
In his speech, Weidel criticized the CDU/CSU, labeling them a “party of deceivers” and saying that his goal was to surpass them.
Despite the high performance, the AfD has little chance of becoming part of Germany’s next government. Due to Germany’s Nazi past, cooperation with the far right remains a major taboo there.
rc/lo (AFP, dpa)
