The Alternative for Germany's federal party congress wrapped up on Sunday in Erfurt, with closing addresses from both co-leaders, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla. The gathering, held inside the exhibition halls of the Thuringian state capital, capped a weekend in which delegates reaffirmed both leaders in their posts and set the party's sights firmly on entering government.
Delegates had already voted the day before to keep the leadership duo in place. Weidel emerged from the vote in a stronger position, securing 81.3 percent of delegate support, while Chrupalla's re-election came in noticeably weaker at 70 percent. Despite the gap between their results, both leaders used the congress to commit the party, which is regarded as partly right-wing extremist, to a single overarching goal: taking on governing responsibility rather than remaining in opposition.
Speaking to delegates, Chrupalla laid out the ambition in blunt terms, telling the hall that the AfD intends to govern first at the state level and eventually at the national level. Weidel went further in her own remarks, describing the AfD as Germany's new people's party and insisting it stands ready to shoulder governing responsibility.
Both leaders used sharp language to criticize the coalition led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the CDU, accusing it of policy failure, and both declared that the so-called "firewall" strategy, the deliberate exclusion of the AfD by Germany's other parties, has effectively collapsed.
The internal balance of power within the AfD leadership shifted slightly at this congress compared with the vote two years ago. Weidel improved on her previous showing, while Chrupalla, who had outperformed her in the last leadership election with 82.7 percent, saw his support drop considerably this time. Both nonetheless pushed back on suggestions of a rift between them, with Chrupalla insisting the two remain fully aligned as leaders.
The party's leadership pointed to strong polling numbers as evidence that its governing ambitions are realistic, noting that national surveys currently place the AfD as Germany's strongest political force. Leadership figures specifically flagged Saxony-Anhalt, where a state election is due in September, as an early test of whether the party can translate polling strength into actual power.
In her address, Weidel accused rival parties of trying to marginalize the AfD through what she called hostility and incitement, telling political opponents directly that their efforts to weaken the party would fail and that the AfD would only continue to grow stronger.
While the congress did not take up major policy decisions, the party's new program is not expected to be finalized until next year, it did carry out a full leadership renewal, including all three deputy chair positions, each of which changed hands. Stefan Möller, who has co-led the Thuringian state branch alongside the far-right figure Björn Höcke for twelve years and is seen as a close ally of his, won the strongest backing among the new deputies, taking 76.5 percent of the vote.
Katrin Ebner-Steiner, who leads the AfD's parliamentary group in the Bavarian state legislature, was also elected as deputy chair, though with a narrower 55.7 percent. A closely contested race for the remaining deputy post saw North Rhine-Westphalia state lawmaker Sven Tritschler, who had Weidel's backing, narrowly defeat incumbent deputy chair Kay Gottschalk with 50.7 percent of the vote.
Chrupalla described managing the party's shift from opposition to government as one of the incoming leadership's central tasks, acknowledging that the transition would bring substantial challenges for the AfD.
The congress drew a significant mobilization of opponents throughout the weekend. Organizers of the demonstrations put attendance at roughly 50,000 people, while police estimated the crowd at more than 30,000. An attempt by protesters aligned with the left-wing alliance "Resistance" to block roads leading to the venue and prevent the congress from starting failed, as hundreds of AfD delegates had already entered the venue overnight, ahead of the planned blockade.
A sit-in blockade at the Erfurt highway interchange did temporarily force the closure of the A71 autobahn on Saturday, though police reported the blockade had ended by midday. Multiple marches with several thousand participants each also took place across Erfurt over the weekend.
While security officials had voiced concern beforehand about the possibility of unrest from left-wing extremist groups, no major incidents occurred on Saturday. Police did report isolated confrontations in which officers used pepper spray, but organizers and police alike described the protest weekend as having passed without serious disorder. Both police and demonstration organizers were expected to hold press briefings on Sunday afternoon to formally assess the weekend's events.
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