Day two of the AfD annual congress in Magdeburg saw victory for anti-Atlanticist factions within the party as delegates selected a slate of anti-NATO candidates to head into next year’s European elections.
Approximately 600 party delegates are gathered in the eastern city of Magdeburg to decide on at least 30 candidates to represent the populist party in European elections that could see the AfD more than double its number of MEPs to over 20 if current polling holds.
Despite rocketing in the polls recently, the AfD has been split on its future position regarding the war in Ukraine with internal commentators noticing a rhetorical shift to the hard right the past year buoyed on by grassroots support from the former East Germany favouring an anti-NATO stance.
Leading that charge is Saxony-based MEP Maximilian Krah who topped the poll to lead the AfD’s list of candidates for 2024 as he defeated last-minute opponent and relatively unknown district councillor Andreas Otti with 65% of the vote Saturday night.
A Dresden-based lawyer, Krah left the CDU for the AfD in 2016 and is a member of the party’s national executive, as well as close ally to radical factions within the party, centred around regional AfD leader Björn Höcke and hardline faction within the party known as ‘Der Flügel.’
Höcke, who has faced constant state harassment for his nationalistic rhetoric outlined his wish to see convergence between right and left-wing voters in Germany around foreign policy during today’s vote.
Judged by many in the current AfD delegation to Brussels to be a caustic figure famous for his public sympathy to both Russia and China, Krah dedicated his victory speech Saturday night to attacking more moderate elements within the party who he believes have waged a smear campaign against him.
Krah’s selection is likely to pose some headaches for the ID parliamentary group which he was suspended from in February due to allegations of fraud and where he is intensely disliked by French MEPs for his public endorsement of Le Pen rival Éric Zemmour last year.
Despite this, party delegates comfortably decided to continue the AfD’s membership of the ID group heading into election season.
AfD delegates also chose Bavarian MP Petr Bystron unopposed as their number two candidate for the European elections. A rising figure on the right of the party Bystron has faced harassment from German intelligence agencies for his dalliances with identitarian groups and has made critical comments about German support for Ukraine.
Also elected on the night to represent the party in 2024 were Thuringian state MP René Aust, known to be a close ally of Höcke and the radicals, as well as current MEP Christine Anderson who is regarded as being on the more moderate wing of the AfD.
Contrary to the original protocol, the AfD will decide on its manifesto for the European elections after all the candidates are selected in a process that is expected to take a further week.
An increasingly subdued figure within the party, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel also gave her opening remarks calling for the creation of a “fortress Europe” to curtail mass immigration into Germany from the third world. The congress can so far be seen as a strategic loss for Weidel and the moderates as she battles to hold an increasingly divergent and faction-ridden party together.
While most European populist parties have modified their ambivalence about, or even prior sympathy with, the Kremlin following the invasion of Ukraine the AfD has distinguished itself among the European Right for its vocal anti-NATO shift over the past 18 months arguing that the war is against Germany’s best interests.
