Setback for AfD co-leader

– Germany’s anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party wrapped up a fractious party congress yesterday by choosing the team to lead it into a September general election, after it dramatically sidelined its most prominent personality.

AfD’s telegenic co-leader, Frauke Petry, 41, had already announced last week she would not join the campaign squad, after weeks of bitter infighting between populists and more radical, hardright forces.

Petry, a former chemist, was handed a further setback on Saturday at the gathering in the western city of Cologne, which drew tens of thousands of protesters.

The around 600 delegates rejected her call to adopt a more moderate-sounding Realpolitik programme intended to shut down the party’s more extremist voices, including those who have attacked Germany’s Holocaust remembrance culture.

Daily newspaper Bild called delegates’ decision to not debate her motion a “crushing blow” for Petry, who expressed bitterness on the sidelines of the meeting.

“I will step aside during the campaign, as that’s what the party congress apparently wants,” Petry said, while pledging to remain party co-chairwoman “for now”.

The AfD has seen its support plummet as the refugee influx to Germany has slowed in recent months. – AFP