AfD re-elects Weidel and Chrupalla as co-chairs; Chrupalla's vote share drops sharply at Erfurt congress

Leadership vote

Delegates at the AfD federal congress in Erfurt re-elected both co-chairs on Saturday. Alice Weidel received 81.3% of valid votes, an improvement on the 79.8% she won in 2024. Tino Chrupalla, who has led the party since November 2019, was confirmed with 70.05%, a drop of more than twelve percentage points from his previous 82.7%. Both stood unopposed and proposed each other. Only yes and no votes were counted; abstentions were excluded from the percentage.

Chrupalla's setback

Chrupalla's weaker result follows internal friction over his stance on Russia and criticism of US President Donald Trump, as well as a recent relatives affair. In his speech he pushed back against Thuringia's state leader Björn Höcke, who had called West Germans "German-speaking Americans." Chrupalla countered that "the West German is just as German as the East German" and insisted the AfD stands for all-German politics. Applause for him was modest, while Weidel's address drew a standing ovation from many delegates, though enthusiasm appeared muted.

We want to govern. We have grown into a people's party. We will govern, first in a state, then at the federal level.

Höcke's proposal withdrawn

A potentially divisive motion from Höcke to loosen the party's incompatibility list was pulled from the agenda on Saturday morning. The list bars membership in certain extremist organisations. Höcke wanted to open the AfD to individuals from groups like the Identitarian Movement, arguing only organisations that seek to violently replace parliamentary democracy should be excluded. Under pressure from the leadership, a group of delegates around Höcke withdrew the motion. Weidel pledged that the newly elected federal executive would revise the list within a year with a clear set of criteria.

We are on the victorious path of history.

Membership surge and election ambitions

Weidel told delegates the party now has 75,000 members, up from around 50,000 at the end of 2024, and predicted it would soon reach 100,000. She called the AfD "the new people's party in Germany" and attacked Chancellor Friedrich Merz as a "Vivaldi" of government leaders, promising "four seasons of reform announcements" followed by broken promises. The congress looked ahead to state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on 6 September and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on 20 September. The AfD has been polling above 40% in Saxony-Anhalt, raising the prospect of an absolute majority. The party is classified as right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence in Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.

We will deport rigorously!

Protests and security

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Erfurt, and access roads were blocked. Most of the roughly 600 delegates arrived in the early morning hours, however, and were bused to the convention centre under police escort. By 5 a.m., 540 delegates were already on site. Chrupalla opened the meeting on time, quipping that "the early bird catches the worm" and that "the Antifa rioters slept through their own disruption." The police provided regular security updates and kept protesters and delegates separated with protection zones and road closures.