Since Monday one must have got the impression that Tino Chrupalla wasn't having a good time camping.

The day after the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the AfD chairman in Berlin commented on their outcome.

His party only just got over the five percent hurdle.

When looking for the reason for the mediocre result, Chrupalla brought up the "cacophony" in the party leadership.

Eckhart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

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It's like camping in the old days, he said.

"There were always those who complained that it was wet in the tent, and it was those who also peed in the tent." In view of the laughter in the hall of the federal press conference, the AfD boss said: "That's how it was when I was young. “ Then a little kick against the political competition.

"I often went camping with the Junge Union."

Chrupalla was elected AfD chairman at the end of 2019.

He led the party together with the second chairman Jörg Meuthen, who, however, resigned from his office at the beginning of this year.

In the elections in Schleswig Holstein on May 8, the AfD failed at the five percent hurdle for the first time since it was elected to a state parliament in 2014.

After things ended last Sunday in North Rhine-Westphalia, although not quite as badly, but also with losses compared to the election five years earlier, some leading party members took on leader Chrupalla on Monday.

“Since 2020, the AfD has only lost nine state elections in a row”

"More fresh minds" are needed at the head of the party, wrote Bundestag member Joana Cotar in a joint statement with other AfD politicians.

"The success story of the AfD ended with Tino Chrupalla." He does not represent the entire party, nor does he convince the voters.

"That's why he can't run again as federal spokesman."

Jürgen Braun, member of the Bundestag and former parliamentary director of the AfD parliamentary group, pointed to a series of electoral defeats for his party.

"Since 2020, the AfD has only lost nine state elections in a row." That applies to both east and west.

In the federal elections, too, voters turned away “in droves”.

“All of these elections fell exactly during the term of office of party leader Tino Chrupalla, which began in November 2019.

We mustn't hide that any longer." Member of the federal executive board, Alexander Wolf, objected to "overly understanding of the Russian position in the Ukraine war".

This course by Tino Chrupalla is "a mistake".

However, the criticized made no attempt to back down.

Chrupalla announced that he would compete again at the party conference in Riesa, Saxony, in June.

Even if the Thuringian state chairman Björn Höcke should apply, he would apply for the post of chairman, said Chrupalla.