AfD party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla want to be re-elected at the federal party conference in Essen next weekend – and are now supporting each other.
Weidel tells WELT: “Tino Chrupalla and I both have different strengths, we want to continue as a dual leadership. I don’t want to do without him at my side.”
Weidel is significantly more popular within the party than her co-leader. In 2022, she was elected to the top with 67 percent, Chrupalla only with 53 percent. Both had an opposing candidate. Since the AfD appeals to different groups of voters with its two federal chairmen, both consider mutual support to be sensible. Weidel is also campaigning for her Saxon colleague because of the upcoming state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in September.
Apart from Weidel and Chrupalla, no one has yet announced a candidacy for the top position. According to the statutes, a single leader is also possible. This would have to be decided by the party conference with a simple majority before the election of the federal executive board. This is considered rather unlikely at the current stage. However, if the election of a single leader is actually decided, the decision would go in favor of Weidel. Chrupalla would then have little chance of remaining at the top.
Chrupalla is therefore dependent on the continued cooperation. “With Alice Weidel, a relationship of trust has developed that I have never experienced before in politics,” he told WELT. “Diversity can also bring people together. We accept our differences and that is precisely why we are successful as a duo.”
The party congress has received a motion to create the position of Secretary General from 2025. This position should only be used if there is a single and not a dual leadership. The motion is supported by the chairmen of eleven regional associations.
Even though Weidel is fundamentally positive about the proposal, the party leadership considers the timing of the proposal to be unfortunate, according to WELT information. An amendment would theoretically make it possible to elect the position in Essen. Then there would no longer be a dual leadership. The proposal was therefore partly seen within the party as an attack on Chrupalla.
