Press
The AfD has to take a lot of criticism for the allegations against its top EU candidates. There is also railing against Weidel and Chrupalla within the party.
Berlin – On Saturday (April 27th) the AfD officially started its European election campaign. What was unusual about the event, which otherwise largely followed the usual AfD patterns: the top candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah, was not there. AfD leader Tino Chrupalla announced the reason during a speech: “It shouldn’t be about Krah, Krah, Krah.”
But when it comes to the AfD at the moment, due to the espionage allegations against one of the top candidate’s employees, that’s exactly what it seems to be about – Krah.
Not just shows up in surveys that the AfD has lost support with a view to the European elections, there is also criticism within the party – of Krah himself, but also of the party leadership. The way the AfD dual leadership, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, deal with the allegations against their top candidates is not only well received within the AfD.
AfD MEP Limmer directs accusations at Weidel and Chrupalla
Apparently, dissatisfaction has spread particularly among the AfD MEPs. This is what the outgoing AfD MP, Sylvia Limmer, said in the Deutschlandfunk-Interview with allegations to the party leadership. Weidel and Chrupalla knew about Krah’s connections and still campaigned for Krah as the top candidate, said Limmer.
In 2022, she herself sent a letter with allegations against Krah to the AfD leaders. It was about his loyalty and voting behavior in the European Parliament. Limmer also emphasized that the allegations had been read “in the media”, including for the AfD’s federal executive board.
AfD stages allegations against Krah and Bystron as a campaign against the party
The AfD is still trying to brush off the allegations that were made not only against Krah, but also against its second top candidate Petr Bystron, in its usual manner and sell them as a targeted campaign. Once again, the German constitutional state is said to have conspired against the “Alternative for Germany”. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement about speculation about the reason for the rapid arrest of Krah’s employee ARDbroadcast on Sunday, there was “nothing to keep secret”.
But that is exactly what the AfD is already trying diligently to do. “I just see how our party is being discredited,” said Weidel on Saturday at the start of the campaign for the European elections. Apparently, however, the conspiracy faction within the party is no longer unchallenged.
AfD EU MP on Seitz’s departure: The reason was “disgust with the management staff”
The outgoing AfD MEP Nicolaus Fest also railed against Weidel and Chrupalla in a video a few days ago. About the departure of AfD politician Thomas Seitz a few weeks ago, Fest said: “What drove him out of the party was, above all, disgust for the leadership.”
The leadership has long since said goodbye to the founding idea of the AfD. Fest said that at the beginning the AfD said, “if in doubt, it would be better to choose the American way of life instead of Chinese social products or Russian poisoning.” There is “nothing left” of that, says Fest, which can be seen in the “actions of the federal spokespersons”.
AfD politician about his own party: “Believing in the state and egalitarian in the primitive socialist sense.”
He says of his party that it is “faithful to the state and egalitarian in the primitive socialist sense.” He accuses Chrupalla of “outright terrorist regimes like Russia, China or Iran”. Corruption, he continues, can be found “just as much in the AfD” as in the parties and institutions that the AfD otherwise criticizes for it. In addition to three AfD people, he also cites Weidel himself as examples. It was Weidel and Chrupalla who made Krah the top candidate, “against all warnings,” criticizes Fest.
With Limmer and Fest, those AfD politicians who no longer have much to lose in the party and who presumably already harbor a grudge against the party leadership are making public statements. Limmer has withdrawn her candidacy for the upcoming European elections after three unsuccessful rounds of applications. Fest was even expelled from the party by the Berlin AfD regional court. The judgment is currently being examined by the Federal Arbitration Court. Fest is still a member of the AfD.
AfD MP on Krah’s book: “Anti-Western” and ideological proximity to the Chinese Communist Party
Norbert Kleinwächter, an AfD member of the Bundestag, also publicly criticized Krah’s attitude. Even before the allegations against Krah’s employees became known, Kleinwächter published an article on its website entitled “Krah’s ‘politics from the right’ and China’s anti-democracy”. The book by the AfD top candidate describes Kleinwächter as “anti-Western” and criticizes the fact that the term “democracy” is hardly mentioned in it.
The AfD MP also denounces the “ideological correspondence with the current argumentation” of the Chinese Communist Party in Krah’s ideas. “In any case, I never want to have to experience the practical test of his views in Germany,” writes Kleinwächter at the end of his essay on Krah’s worldviews.
Unlike Limmer, Fest and Kleinwächter, many in the AfD are not supposed to express criticism publicly
Kleinwächter’s criticism is primarily aimed at Krah and yet one cannot dismiss what Fest has already discussed in his video: The AfD party leadership has supported Krah as the top candidate for the European elections. Chrupalla said this in an interview with Krah after Krah was elected as the top candidate ARD in July 2023.
Within the AfD, dissatisfaction with the party and faction leadership is expected to grow, reported Southgerman newspaper. Many should therefore express their displeasure behind closed doors, unlike Limmer, Fest or Kleinwächter.
In addition to internal differences, the AfD’s image could also become a problem for the party. According to a Forsa survey, a majority of citizens generally consider AfD politicians to be more dubious than those of other parties. In the survey for the magazine star 35 percent of the 1,000 respondents voted that the possible involvement of AfD European candidates in connection with pro-Russian disinformation campaigns and suspected Chinese espionage were isolated cases. (pav)