The AfD wants to give itself a new look with old leaders.

The re-elected federal spokesman Tino Chrupalla associated the word “departure” and “the chance to leave the past behind” with his person.

In fact, Chrupalla, unlike his opponent Norbert Kleinwaechter, who comes from the moderate AfD milieu, is a figure of integration – who, however, lacks the power to integrate.

That's why the leader of the right-wing (extreme) camp, Björn Höcke, can get along with him tolerably without having to expose himself in a leadership position.

Johannes Leithauser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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At the federal party conference in Riesa, Höcke demonstrated that he also has such a directing influence on the AfD with a few short interventions, which, however, were not about substantive positions, but about statute (i.e. power) issues.

Höcke was the first to decide that the AfD would change its statutes in such a way that in future a chairman could lead the party alone.

With a second brief appearance, he then managed to ensure that this new opportunity was not used immediately, but only in two years at the earliest.

Weidel dismisses a delegate

Alice Weidel, who was new to the chair but well-known as a leader, sounded similar to her chair colleague: unity and harmony.

She stands for a "leadership that agrees, a team that is well-rehearsed," said Weidel at her presentation - and it took less than five minutes for her to provide the assembly with evidence to the contrary.

When a delegate from Baden-Württemberg, where she holds the position of AfD state chairman, wanted to know why she couldn't tame the chaos there, Weidel replied from the lectern that it was because the questioner's district association overpaid the state executive board busy "because you can't lead him".

Chrupallas' annual report over the past two and a half years gave an idea of ​​what leadership work in the AfD will look like in the future.

He mumbled his appearance in front of the delegates rather than using it for a glowing account of justification.

A lot had happened in his term of office so far: party expulsion proceedings against exponents of the right wing (Andreas Kalbitz), two handfuls of failures in state elections, most recently the resignation of the second federal spokesman (party chairman) Jörg Meuthen and his resignation from the party.

Chrupalla did not go into these events any further, but worked through everything that had been decided in the board meetings, a “manual for the updated appearance of the AfD was created”, “over 20 letters to members were sent out in the federal election campaign”, a “campaign closing event was held ’, a ‘guideline for those affected by compulsory vaccination’, and launched the ‘Healthy without Compulsion’ campaign.