With criticism of the honorary chairman Alexander Gauland, the former leader of the AfD in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, Uwe Junge, said goodbye to the party.
On his Facebook page, he announced his departure from the AfD on Sunday.
Bundestag parliamentary group leader Gauland has long held his protective hand over the "completely overrated" Thuringian AfD parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke and other protagonists of the party's far-right wing.
In doing so, he had damaged the reputation of the party.
Junge, who had not run in the previous state election, also complained about a “negative change in the membership structure”.
A reversal of the development is no longer possible because sensible and educated people are deterred by the overstimulated atmosphere, coupled with wild conspiracy theories and sometimes rude behavior, while the bleating of the regulars feels at home when they first visit an AfD event ".
Junge also drew criticism in his own party last June when he called the rainbow captain's armband worn by national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer on Twitter as a “fagot armband”.
He later deleted the tweet and apologized for the term.
He will vote for the Liberal-Conservative Reformist (LKR) party in the next general election, Junge wrote. His hope is that the LKR “can become the reservoir for all sensible conservatives from the AfD, CDU and others”. The party was founded in 2015 by Bernd Lucke and other former AfD members. Lucke is now just a simple member of the LKR.