Merkel exit could pose headache for far-right

The Alternative for Germany faces battle to keep voters after its nemesis leaves politics

A year after it entered Germany’s parliament, the far-right AfD party is facing turbulence, including a donations scandal and the looming departure of its favourite enemy, Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The troubles have come thick and fast since the five-year-old Alternative for Germany reached a key goal in October by entering the last of the country’s 16 state assemblies, winning 13 per cent in the region of Hesse.

A newcomer feared and loathed by mainstream parties, the AfD has stagnated at around 15 per cent in the polls while the left-leaning Greens have enjoyed a series of stunning successes.

Billing themselves “the alternative to the Alternative” with a clear stance against the AfD’s antiimmigration message, the Greens poll at around 20 per cent, making them the second-strongest party after Merkel’s CDU-CSU bloc.

The AfD meanwhile has faced charges of accepting illegal campaign funds from a non-EU donor, in Switzerland – a damaging charge for a party that accuses all the “establishment parties” of being dishonest and corrupt.

A more fundamental problem may be that the AfD’s nemesis, Merkel, has rung in the beginning of the end of her chancellorship after 13 years in power. Weakened by several election setbacks for her CDU, she has declined to stand again for the leadership of the party at a December congress and declared she will leave politics when her term ends in 2021.

The AfD, whose main slogan has been “Merkel must go”, may hail the news as a triumph as they have long railed against Merkel over her decision to allow more than one million asylum seekers into the country since 2015.

“When Merkel goes, the AfD will need a new object of hate,” wrote the daily Tagesspiegel.

Much will depend on who takes the helm of the party. If Merkel’s preferred successor, the moderate Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, nicknamed “miniMerkel”, wins the race, the AfD is likely to be happy to train their sights on her.

The other two candidates – corporate banker Friedrich Merz and right-wing Health Minister Jens Spahn – may be tougher targets since they have signalled shifting the party back to the right, including on immigration.

In this case, “the AfD will probably lose some of its voters”, said Sudha David-Wilp, of the German Marshall Fund think tank.