The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) will have a candidate run in the chancellorship race for the first time in 2025, party co-leader Alice Weidel confirmed as the emboldened party soars in the polls.
Traditionally, only the parties with the greatest chance of leading the government explicitly name a candidate for Germany’s top job ahead of federal elections, which has historically limited the field to the SPD and the CDU. The FDP, a smaller centre-right party, drew mockery in 2002 when its leader Guido Westerwelle ran for chancellor.
“Of course [we will run a candidate for the chancellorship]. We would have done [this] even without the current poll numbers,” Weidel told RTL/NTV. She added, however, that party members would have the final say on the matter.
Tino Chrupalla, Weidel’s fellow AfD leader, backed her up, saying it was “logical” for an AfD politician to run for chancellor.
The AfD was initially founded as a Eurosceptic party in 2013 but has gradually shifted its focus towards migration.
A new poll published on Tuesday by RTL/NTV saw it come in second with 19%, behind the CDU (27%) and ahead of the SPD (18%), the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The poll surge has been linked to dissatisfaction with Germany’s squabbling three-way coalition government.
“The protest vote plays a role when a government does not manage to satisfy voters with its politics,” Uwe Jun, a political scientist at the University of Trier, recently told EURACTIV.
The development could soon become relevant for the EU, too, as the AfD is considering campaigning for the 2024 European elections on the promise to dissolve European institutions.
“We’re … seeking to orderly dissolve the EU and want to create a new, European economic and interest-based community, a league of European nations,” reads a proposal by the party leadership for the European election manifesto, which emerged on Monday.
Proposals for the manifesto will be voted on by members at a party conference in July.
(Nick Alipour | EURACTIV.de)
Read more with EURACTIV
Former Hungarian diplomat: Corruption is next decades’ biggest security challenge
Source: euractiv.com
