COLOGNE: Alternative for Germany (AfD) needs to change course and adopt a position of realpolitik, the co-leader of the populist party said on Saturday at a convention in Cologne where delegates rejected her plea.
Frauke Petry said the AfD, which was founded four years ago and saw its popularity soar on an anti-EU and anti-immigration platform, must tone down the ideological rhetoric and focus on practical work in order to have broader appeal in the upcoming national election.
The public image of the AfD was being shaped by a “loud minority” of hardliners in the party, Petry told members at the convention where she introduced a motion on the party’s strategy going forward.
Petry’s motion aimed to pull back from the far-right and to transform the AfD into a mainstream party open to working in a coalition — although Germany’s major political parties have said they want nothing to do with the AfD.
This would mean rejecting a push by a radical faction within the AfD that wants it to operate as “a fundamental opposition” party.
But the 600 delegates attending the party conference refused to even vote on Petry’s motion, perhaps signalling her waning influence.
The two-day meeting comes just days after Petry announced she was quitting the race to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor.
Support for the AfD swelled on the back of the eurozone financial crisis and the influx of refugees into Germany in 2015. But as those issues have subsided, its popularity has declined and the party has been dogged by infighting over its direction.
In September last year, polls showed the AfD capturing 16 per cent of the national vote. However, voter surveys published this week show support for the party slumping below 10 per cent.
The AfD is represented in 11 of Germany’s 16 state parliaments. In September’s federal election the party is seeking to clear the 5-per cent hurdle required to be represented in the Bundestag.
Petry’s decision this week not to lead the party in the general elections was a dramatic about-turn that brought to a head the long-running internal power struggle.
Her concerns revolve around members like Bjoern Hoecke, who has provoked widespread condemnation with speeches calling on Germany to stop atoning for its Nazi past.
Petry and other members of the realist wing had argued that pandering to the far-right would leave the AfD a fringe party.
The clash has caused frequent outbursts: Just a few weeks ago Petry was filmed crying after a far-right member tore into her at a party meeting in the eastern state of Saxony. — DPA
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