German nationalists elect top duo for general election
BERLIN — Germany’s nationalist party Alternative for Germany on Sunday elected two new top candidates for the September general election after the party’s best-known politician, Frauke Petry, said last week she would no longer be available.
Members of the far-right party, known by its acronym AfD, elected Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel at their weekend party convention in Cologne.
Divisions erupted among the different factions of the German nationalists as delegates from the AfD rejected an appeal Saturday by Petry to seek a more pragmatic political path instead of turning into a “fundamental opposition” party. The defeat was a significant blow for AfD co-leader Petry, whose position in the party is now substantially weakened.
Gauland, 76, is one of the party’s most prominent members and one of Petry’s main rivals.