Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has reaffirmed its ambition to rule the country. Closing the party’s national conference in Erfurt, the capital of the eastern state of Thuringia, re-elected co-leader Alice Weidel was pointing to current opinion polls that show the party in the lead across Germany. He said, “We are the strongest force. We are the people’s party with 30% support. And we will rule.”
Earlier the representatives had confirmed the co-leadership of the party. Weidel, who ran as the AfD’s main candidate in Germany’s 2025 federal election, slightly improved on her result from two years ago and won 81.3% of the vote. In contrast, his co-chairman Tino Krupalla lost significant support and received only 70%.
More importantly for Weidel, several of his supporters were elected to the new federal board. This strengthened the influence of Weidel, who holds a doctoral degree in economics, on the future direction of the party. Within the AfD and in the media, there has long been speculation about Weidel’s ambition to lead the party on her own in the future.
promote far right wing
The composition of the newly elected board shows that the AfD is prepared to continue a radical strategy to set itself apart from all other parties. At least six of the 14 members of the new board come from state branches of what Germany’s domestic intelligence officials classify as right-wing extremist organizations.
One of the new members to the party leadership is Jean-Pascal Hohm, a far-right politician who also heads the newly founded party youth group, “Generation Deutschland”. In the past, Hohm had to leave his job in the AfD parliamentary group in the eastern state of Brandenburg due to contacts with right-wing extremists.
Stephan Möller from Thuringia is also joining the board. He is considered one of the closest political allies of Björn Höcke, one of the AfD’s most controversial figures. In 2025, Hawke was twice ordered to pay a fine after repeatedly using slogans associated with the Nazi-era SA, a paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler. His aide Möller is now expected to oversee the party’s dealings with Germany’s security authorities.
Domestic intelligence agencies vs. AfD
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, along with its state-level counterparts, is a particular target of AfD criticism. In five states – Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia – the AfD is classified as officially confirmed right-wing extremist. It is under surveillance in six other states and nationally as a suspected extremist organization.
Officials point to repeated negative statements made by party members about Germany’s democracy and judiciary. But above all, they point to repeated attempts by AfD politicians to question the legal equality of German citizens, especially when it comes to migrants, Muslims and black people.
Stefan Möller, now a member of the federal board, has also questioned the equality of all Germans in the past. In a post published on Twitter, now X, on July 17, 2023, he wrote: “The decision to make someone German is made between the ears, not on paper.”
Unlike previous AfD conferences, this time the party’s internal power struggle went on without any major confrontation or division. Earlier meetings had seen fierce public infighting and attacks from the conference stage, with party leaders repeatedly ousted from power after bitter verbal battles.
In contrast, no such increase occurred in Erfurt. There are still three important state elections to be held in 2026, and the AfD is expected to get its first state prime minister in Saxony-Anhalt or Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, with party leaders successfully avoiding any conflict that could affect favorable polling numbers.
Some policy details from Weedel
But the absence of open conflict also meant that there was little actual policy debate. Weidel largely avoided offering concrete policy proposals in his speech. Instead, she stuck to a general critique of German government policy over the past 20 years: “Saving the euro, saving refugees, saving the climate, saving Ukrainians – while continuing to industrialize the country and adopt disastrous energy policies – is taking a toll on the people in our country.”
In the past, Weidel and the AfD have called for a return to nuclear power, the resumption of Russian gas deliveries to Germany, an end to climate protection measures, and an end to German support for Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022 and has been defending ever since.
However, at the conference, Weidel limited himself to emphasizing the AfD’s claim to government responsibility. He did not propose any specific measures. Instead, to the loud applause of the delegates, he invoked the spirit of German nationalism: “Let us paint the whole country black, red and gold. Black, red and gold – this is how we live. These are our colors.”
Peaceful anti-AFD protests
The party conference was accompanied by large-scale peaceful protests. Thousands of people demonstrated against the AfD in Erfurt. The protests were supported by trade unions, churches, political parties and many civil society organisations.
At a rally in Erfurt, Jens-Christian Wagner, director of the Buchenwald Memorial at the former concentration camp site in Thuringia, addressed the AfD with a clear message: “Remember yourself in the history books.”
His remarks referred to the AfD’s use of the term “migration”, which the party uses to describe mass deportations of migrants, including some people with legal residence or citizenship, according to proposals by some party figures.
This article was originally published in German.