AfD boss Jörg Meuthen has announced his withdrawal. He does not want to run again for the top position in the new election of the party executive in December. Meuthen wrote to party members by circular on Monday with the news.
In the letter that is available to the Tagesspiegel, Meuthen does not go into the reasons. He speaks of six and a half “incredibly demanding years” at the party leadership, which were marked by “some hardships and disappointments”, but also by many good experiences.
Meuthen has been one of the party’s two federal spokesmen since 2015. Initially, he led the AfD together with Frauke Petry, who left shortly after the federal election in 2017. Meuthen then formed a duo with Alexander Gauland, today’s honorary chairman of the AfD. The Saxon Tino Chrupalla is currently the co-chair alongside Meuthen. The relationship between the two is considered broken.
Meuthen is hated in the Höcke camp
It had already become apparent that Meuthen might not run for the post as AfD boss again. In recent years, Meuthen has lost more and more support in the party.
After he had previously made a pact with the “wing” around the Thuringian regional chief Björn Höcke, Meuthen has been campaigning since 2019 to force right-wing extremists out of the party and to dissolve the “wing”. Meuthen is considered to be comparatively moderate. He is hated in the camp around Höcke.
The trench warfare had already broken out again in the party after the general election. Now the party congress in December could lead to a fight for Meuthen’s successor.
Björn Höcke’s candidacy is unlikely
From the AfD you can hear that besides Chrupalla, who comes from Saxony, a co-chairman from the west should be elected. In this context, the parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel, the North Rhine-Westphalian AfD state chairman Rüdiger Lucassen and the Bavarian AfD leader Peter Boehringer are named.
Björn Höcke is very unlikely to run for the chief position. He is also probably not aiming for a place on the federal executive board. Since he also polarizes within the party, he cannot be sure that he will get a majority. Defeat would damage his aura. Höcke therefore prefers to act from the background and with specific requests to speak. His goal should be that in the end a “wing” -friendly candidate follows Meuthen.
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