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Alternative for Germany

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Alternative for Germany
Alternative für Deutschland
AbbreviationAfD
LeadersTino Chrupalla
Alice Weidel
Parliamentary leadershipTino Chrupalla
Alice Weidel
Founded2013
IdeologyGerman nationalism
Euroscepticism
Right-wing populism
National conservatism
Anti-Islam
Anti-immigration
Antifeminism
Political positionFar-right
Website
afd.de

Alternative for Germany (German: Alternative für Deutschland, shortened AfD) is a far-right, right-wing populist, and national conservative German political party. It holds eurosceptic, anti-immigrant, and pro-Russian views. The party supports large-scale remigration and denies climate change. Political scientists have described the AfD's views as völkisch (ethno-nationalist).

In the 2017 federal election, the AfD won 94 seats after receiving 12.6% of the national vote.[1]

History

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In 2012, Alexander Gauland, Bernd Lucke and Konrad Adam formed the Electoral Alternative 2013. It was critical of Germany's policy toward the eurozone crisis. Some candidates who were part of the Electoral Alternative 2013 ran for election in Lower Saxony in alliance with the Free Voters.[2] They then decided to form a party to compete in the 2013 federal election. The group wanted to abolish the euro, so the Free Voters refused to join forces.[3]

The AfD's first supporters were economists, business leaders, journalists and former members of the Christian Democratic Union who were critical of the eurozone.[4]

Konrad Adam (left), Frauke Petry (center) and Bernd Lucke (right) in 2013

The AfD held their first convention on 14 April 2013. Members elected Bernd Lucke, Frauke Petry and Konrad Adam as speakers.[5]

In the 2013 federal election, the party received 4.6% of the national vote with more than 2 million votes. The party did not win any seats.[6]

Before the 2014 European Parliament election, the AfD held a conference on 25 January 2014 in Bavaria. They chose the slogan, Mut zu Deutschland ("Courage [to stand up] for Germany"). In February 2014, some AfD officials wanted to join an alliance with the hard eurosceptic party, UKIP. However, Bernd Lucke and other officials and election candidates wanted to instead join an alliance with the British Conservative Party.[7] In the European elections, the AfD won 7 seats in the European Parliament, and joined the European Conservatives and Reformists.

On 4 July 2015, Frauke Petry was elected as the principal speaker of the party.[8] She was a member of the national conservate faction within the party.[9] Her election is seen as a shift of the party further to the right wing, as the party now began to focus on Islam and immigration. Lucke believed the party was turing into the "PEGIDA party."[10] He left the party a few days later, citing the rise of xenophobia within the party.[11] On 19 July 2015, Lucke formed the Alliance for Progress and Renewal (ALFA).[12]

In February 2016, AfD announced an alliance with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).[13] On 8 March 2016, the European Conservatives and Reformists decided they will begin to exclude the AfD from their groups due to their links to the far-right FPÖ.[14]

In 2016, the party won seats in the Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt Landtags.

At the AfD party conference held on 30 April to 1 May 2016, the party called for a ban on burkhas, minarets and the call to prayer, using the slogan "Islam is not a part of Germany".[15][16]

Results from the 2017 election. Darker areas indicate stronger support.

Frauke Petry decided not to run as the party's main candidate in the 2017 federal election. This was a consequence of the internal power struggle within the party. The party chose Alexander Gauland, a strong conservative and former member of the CDU,[17] to lead the party in the elections. Alice Weidel, who is seen as being more moderate, was elected as his running mate.[18] The party's platform was mainly to close the borders to asylum seekers, end sanctions on Russia and leave the European Union if Germany's national sovereignty is not restored.[18] After the election, the party received 5.8 million votes, winning 94 seats in the Bundestag.[19] This is the first time the party has held seats in the Bundestag.

A day after the successful 2017 federal election, Frauke Petry left the party. She did this as a response to extremist comments made by some members in the AfD. She would later join the Blue Party, which is another right-wing and conservative party.[20]

A politician representing AfD was elected in 2023 as a mayor.[21]

The Hamburg Regional Court issued a preliminary injunction against ZDF and NDR, prohibiting the claim that the Potsdam meeting involved discussions about the deportation of German citizens, ruling it an untrue factual assertion.[22][23][24]

Beliefs

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The AfD's ideology is described as far right,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31] right-wing populist,[32] national conservative and anti-immigration.[33] The party is against same-sex marriage and denies climate change.[34][35] It has also aligned itself with groups that are against feminism,[36] and the party supports restricting abortions.[37] The AfD is also against queer people.[38] Political scientists and experts describe the AfD's views as völkisch because the party often distinguishes between people based on their migration background.[39][40] The party calls for remigration on a large scale.[41]

Alternative for Germany is eurosceptic and critical about the influx of foreigners in Germany.[42] The party calls for withdrawing Germany from the European Union (EU), the euro currency, and the Paris Agreement.[37] It has close ties with Russia.[43][44][45]

References

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  1. ↑ "Alternative for Germany: Who Are They, and What Do They Want?". The New York Times. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  2. ↑ Frymark, Kamil (10 April 2013). "German Euro-sceptics to establish a political party". CeWeekly: The Centre for Eastern Studies (Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich). Retrieved 22 May 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  3. ↑ Pop, Valentina (12 March 2013). "New anti-euro party forms in Germany". EUobserver. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Matthew Boesler, "A small band of German professors is the hottest new threat to the future of the Euro," Business Insider (4 March 2013).
  5. ↑ Jahn, Joachim (14 April 2013). "Aufstand gegen Merkels 'alternativlose Politik'". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German).
  6. ↑ "German Euroskeptic Party AFD Could Unravel After Election – SPIEGEL ONLINE". Der Spiegel. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  7. ↑ Waterfield, Bruno (24 April 2014). "EU elections: German Eurosceptics snub 'ridiculous' Ukip". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "Germany's Far-Right Populists Have an Infighting Problem". The Atlantic. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  9. ↑ "Germany's euroskeptic AfD elects conservative leader Petry". Deutsche Welle. 4 July 2015.
  10. ↑ Schneider, Jens (6 July 2015). "Lucke und der Auszug der Gemäßigten". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  11. ↑ Barkin, Noah (8 July 2015). "German AfD founder leaves party decrying xenophobic shift". Reuters. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "Ousted chief of Germany's euroskeptic AfD sets up new political party". Deutsche Welle. 19 July 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  13. ↑ Deutsche AfD und FPÖ beschließen Zusammenarbeit (in German). Der Standard. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  14. ↑ Crisp, James (9 March 2016). "AfD links to Austrian far-right 'final straw' for ECR MEPs –". Euractiv.com. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  15. ↑ Ruth Bender (1 May 2016). "Germany's AfD Adopts Anti-Islam Stance at Party Conference". The Wall Street Journal.
  16. ↑ "Germany's AfD party adopts anti-Islamic manifesto". Financial Times.
  17. ↑ Wehner, Markus (28 February 2015). "AfD-Vizechef im Porträt - Die drei Leben des Alexander Gauland". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German).
  18. 1 2 Troianovski, Anton (23 April 2017). "Head of Germany's Upstart Anti-Immigrant Party Pushed Aside". The Wall Street Journal.
  19. ↑ "Bundestagswahl am 24. September 2017". Wahlrecht.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  20. ↑ "Ex-AfD chief Frauke Petry unveils new conservative 'Blue party'". Deutsche Welle. 13 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  21. ↑ https://www.aftenposten.no/verden/nyhetsanalyse/i/0QxrdA/tyske-velgere-stroemmer-til-ytre-hoeyre-hvorfor-gjoer-de-det. Aftenposten.no. Retrieved 2023-09-07
  22. ↑ LTO (5 November 2024). "ZDF verliert Rechtsstreit um Interpretation von Correctiv-Recherche". Legal Tribune Online (in German). Retrieved 2025-02-09.
  23. ↑ Aston, Jonas (2024-09-23). "Revision abgelehnt: NDR darf Correctiv-Lüge nicht weiter verbreiten". Apollo News (in German). Retrieved 2025-02-09.
  24. ↑ "Landesrecht Hamburg". www.landesrecht-hamburg.de. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
  25. ↑ "Germany's far-right party will make the Bundestag much noisier". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  26. ↑ Ehrhardt, Sabine. "Germany's far-right AfD chooses nationalist as co-leader". U.S. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  27. ↑ Schütz, Simon (2017-10-10). "The 'Very Different' Leaders Of Germany's Far-Right AfD Party". NPR. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  28. ↑ "German Far-Right AfD Is in Parliament. Now What?". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  29. ↑ "Germany's far right says it is 'ready' to take advantage of political stalemate". The Independent. 2017-11-21. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  30. ↑ Oltermann, Philip (2017-12-03). "Germany's far-right AfD sidelines moderates as police and protesters clash". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  31. ↑ Ellyatt, Holly (2017-09-25). "Germany's far-right AfD party: 5 things you need to know". CNBC. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  32. ↑
  33. ↑ "German election: Why this vote matters". BBC News. 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2017-09-20.[better source needed]
  34. ↑ Wayne C. Thompson, ed. (2015). Nordic, Central, and Southeastern Europe 2015–2016. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-4758-1883-3.
  35. ↑ Knight, Ben (7 March 2016). "What does the AfD stand for?". Deutsche Welle. "Scientific research on the long-term development of the climate because of man-made CO2 emissions is fraught with uncertainty
  36. ↑ Kemper, Andraes (March 2014) "Keimzelle der Nation? Familien- und geschlechter-politische Positionen der AfD – eine Expertise" (Germ cell of the nation? Family and gender political positions of the AfD - an expertise) Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Forum Politik und Gesellschaft
  37. 1 2 Kammer, Alena; dpa; AFP (2024-11-29). "Wahlprogramm der AfD: AfD fordert Austritt aus der Europäischen Union und dem Euro". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2026-09-10.
  38. ↑ Kassam, Ashifa; Krupa, Jakub (2025-02-21). "LGBTQ+ community in Germany rally against rise of far right ahead of elections". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-09-07.
  39. ↑ Pfeifer, Hans (2026-08-17). "Germany's AfD is labeled far right, populist or extremist". dw.com. Retrieved 2026-09-09.
  40. ↑ Dernbach, Andrea (2021-06-07). "National-völkische Positionen: Die AfD – bürgerlich und populistisch? Nein, rechtsextrem und rassistisch". Tagesspiegel. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
  41. ↑ Heim, Maximilian (2025-01-14). ""Remigration": Was ist damit gemeint? Und was noch?". BR24 (in German). Retrieved 2026-09-10.
  42. ↑ "Parties and Election in Europe". 2014.
  43. ↑ "Russia's best friends in Germany: AfD and BSW". dw.com. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  44. ↑ Connolly, Kate (2022-09-20). "Far-right German politicians accused of pro-Putin 'propaganda trip'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-08-21. The AfD has a reputation for its pro-Russian, sometimes also pro-Putin, stance.
  45. ↑ Solomon, Erika (2024-04-15). "Far Right's Ties to Russia Sow Rising Alarm in Germany". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-08-21.

Other websites

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