Björn Höcke tends to make a big appearance even when it comes to boring procedural issues.

It's Friday, the first day of the AfD party convention in Riesa, Saxony.

It's the order of the day, and has been for a long time.

One delegate at a time comes to the microphone to request a change.

Some want to elect the new federal executive board as quickly as possible in order to send a signal to the outside world.

The others want a substantive signal and want to pass a resolution before the election.

They are short, factual applications.

Until Björn Höcke, the figurehead of the far right in the party, takes the floor.

Andreas Nefger

Editor in Politics.

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The Thuringian head of state complains that the party is too "about the power ambitions of individuals".

Then he goes on: With his usual pathos, he demands that the “Party of Freedom”, which is fighting a “authoritarian state”, must use June 17, the 69th anniversary of the popular uprising in the GDR, to send a signal use what it stands for.

Amid the cheers of his supporters, the chairman of the meeting warned that Höcke should please speak about the agenda - which he then does.

He promotes his proposal to set up a commission at the party congress to prepare a party structural reform, and he calls for it to be discussed before the board elections.

Höcke will not run for office in Riesa, even if he flirted with it.

He will still achieve successes, as well as defeats.

That's how it is on Friday: the delegates want to deal with the commission, whose chairman Höcke wants to expand his influence in the party - but only at the end of the party congress.

The desired signal should come from a resolution.

Not by those who speak out against arms deliveries to Ukraine, not by those who are calling for a “consensual dissolution” of the EU – the delegates felt that the danger that the signal could once again become one of disagreement was too great.

So the resolution "for the construction of new nuclear power plants in Germany" is brought forward.

But here, too, there is no immediate agreement on the details.

Do you need a repository for nuclear waste?

Do you also advocate an end to the coal phase-out?

The lead delegate has to go back to the text.

Only hours later did the delegates come to an agreement.

"It's definitely not Mr. Höcke"

So it is that the first message from the party congress is linked to Höcke's name.

It's about the application he co-signed, which should also enable a single leader in the AfD in the future.

The attitude to this question does not run along the camp borders.

Some believe that the notoriously divided party needs a dual leadership to balance things out.

Others think the inner conflict can best be overcome through clear leadership.

What hopes and fears are associated with the fact that Höcke, of all people, stands up for the individual leadership is made clear by a delegate's speech.

"There isn't one savior in the party," he calls into the microphone.

"And it's definitely not Mr. Höcke." It's hard to say which is louder afterwards: the applause – or the whistles.