The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has chosen Alice Weidel, its co-chair, as its candidate for chancellor in the upcoming snap federal election on February 23.
The party is currently polling second nationally, with around 18% support, trailing only the conservative CDU/CSU bloc at 32%.
Weidel, a 45-year-old business analyst from western Germany, has been a co-leader of the AfD since 2017. Known as part of the party’s more moderate faction, she presents a complex image for a populist, Euroskeptic movement. Weidel is openly lesbian, living in Switzerland with her female partner and two children, though she maintains Germany as her primary residence.
The snap election follows the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition government in November. The coalition included Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the economically liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).
This marks the first time in its nearly 12-year history that the AfD has put forward a candidate for chancellor. The move underscores the party’s growing confidence and political relevance, despite its controversial platform and history.
