Status: 05/17/2022 2:27 p.m
After renewed losses in a state election, AfD boss Chrupalla is coming under increasing pressure. A prominent radical opponent is already exploring the situation.
After all, it finally worked – on the third attempt this year. The traditional post-election press conference in Berlin takes place with AfD boss Tino Chrupalla. After the Saarland election, he still failed because of the 2G rule for the hall of the federal press conference.
Last week he wanted to be there digitally, but there was no party representative from Schleswig-Holstein – the event was canceled. Now he is sitting on the podium and trying to explain the disastrous NRW result of his AfD.
attempt at disassembly
He is now practiced in this discipline: since being elected party leader in November 2019, the AfD has held nine state elections and one federal election. Each time the result was worse than the previous election. For him as chairman, a devastating record – which is shared with relish, especially by opponents within the party.
And that’s not all: they are attempting the major dismantling at the start of the inner-party final sprint for the party leadership. In a month’s time, a new AfD national board will be elected at the party conference in Riesa, Saxony. He will set the direction for the next few years.
Concerted Attack
For example, those who were previously at the side of ex-AfD leader Meuthen publish a message with just one content at the beginning of Chrupalla’s press conference: Chrupalla can’t do it, has to go. “The AfD’s success story ends with Tino Chrupalla,” says Joana Cotar, a member of the federal executive board with her own ambitions for a top position.
Chrupalla neither represents the entire party nor does he convince voters, she adds: “That’s why he can’t run again as federal spokesman.” Her colleague on the board, Alexander Wolf, adds that Chrupalla’s course in the Ukraine conflict was “a mistake that almost cost the AfD another parliamentary group.”
A fierce, concerted attack, but Chrupalla doesn’t seem surprised. He even has a somewhat idiosyncratic replica ready – a comparison with camping experiences from his youth, he says: “There were always those who complained that it was wet in the tent, it was always the ones who peed in the tent themselves. “
“Cacophony”
Chrupalla blames a large part of the responsibility for the many electoral defeats on the “cacophony” within the current federal executive board.
And on his former co-spokesman Meuthen, who also torpedoed his work in a way that was damaging to the party: “I endured that for a year and a half on this federal executive board, where I was tormented by him and I always kept my mouth shut. That’s over now and that’s why he will new federal board also look different.”
Meeting with Lavrov
He himself wants to remain at the top and has already announced that he will soon present a team with which he wants to bring the AfD back into shape. A few months ago it looked as if Chrupalla would be set for one of the speaker positions.
He was also accepted by the western associations, mainly because he is not considered a representative of the radical wing of the AfD in the party. But that has changed since Russia attacked Ukraine.
His meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is lingering on him, say even those who are publicly well-disposed towards him. His attitude, which is still too pro-Russian, now offers a target for attack and is his greatest weakness, says one.
“This war also has several fathers”
There are statements similar to those repeated by Chrupalla at the press conference after the North Rhine-Westphalia elections, which annoyed some in the western associations.
“This war also has several fathers,” he says. “Of course, the role of NATO and the role of the federal government must also be discussed here.” Or: “I, too, criticize Mr. Lavrov’s war rhetoric, just as I sharply criticize the war rhetoric of German politicians.”
These sentences leave an AfD member of the Bundestag with a good relationship with Chrupalla at a loss. He doesn’t understand why Chrupalla, why his party friends from the East keep defending the Russians.
“Since when are we pacifists in the AfD?”
It was very fortunate that a common line could be agreed at the parliamentary group retreat without physical arguments. “But between us: This peace-making-without-arms is complete nonsense,” he adds. “Since when are we pacifists in the AfD?”
And then suddenly there is also Björn Höcke, state chairman in Thuringia. He is probably the most prominent and at the same time most radical representative of the AfD. It is good manners that he publicly flirted with a possible AfD chief candidacy before elections. But this time he seems more serious.
And Höcke?
The pressure, especially from his own supporters, to finally take responsibility for the AfD at the federal level, is extremely great. Höcke now not only talks about his mind games in market places.
He was also in the Bundestag last week, according to information from the ARD Capital Studios met with at least five high-ranking faction members. Including probably West-AfDler, who are actually critical of his possible candidacy.
If Höcke attacks, it would also be an attack on Chrupalla. Both together would be unthinkable as a management duo. There could only be one. Chrupalla agrees that the Höcke discussion will continue over the next few weeks: “If Mr. Höcke thinks he has to stand up as federal spokesman and we have a top group, then he will have to run against Tino Chrupalla.”
He has become thinner, some party friends say about the still-AfD boss. This is noticeable when there are questions about Höcke. If the party thinks you don’t need him as a person, then the party congress can decide that, says Chrupalla. He won’t burst into tears.
Unloaded frustration
Some suspect that Chrupalla is counting on Alice Weidel stepping in at his side at the last moment, as was the case with the top candidate in the federal election campaign. Together, the two now lead the parliamentary group. But Weidel doesn’t seem to want to be the boss at all. She will know that in the AfD, the so-called accumulation of offices is seen as a mortal sin. The fact that everyone in the party is suspect immediately after being elected to a top office is suspicious.
Because the AfD is teeming with know-it-alls. By those who consider themselves more suitable and therefore always speak of grassroots democracy when they really only want to weaken “those up there”. For these reasons, Weidel already has enough trouble with her parliamentary group, with her Baden-Württemberg state association, which she heads.
As far as the federal party is concerned, Chrupalla has had the frustration dumped exclusively on him since leaving Meuthen. It’s a rather new experience for him, it’s also said to be affecting him and leading to further speculation: Chrupalla could flee to Saxony if the pressure on him increased – regardless of whether he was re-elected as federal spokesman or not. He is at home with his family in Saxony.
There, polls currently trust the AfD to become the strongest force in the 2024 state elections. A member of the parliamentary group leadership commented on the rumor as follows: “Prime Minister candidate Chrupalla – I now think that’s the most likely scenario.”