Berlin, Jan 11 (EFE).- The far-right Alternative for Germany party on Saturday confirmed Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor in the country’s upcoming election.
Latest polls suggest that the party could secure 22 percent of the vote, placing second behind the conservative CDU-CSU bloc, in the Feb. 23 elections.
Weidel’s nomination took place during the AfD congress in Riesa, eastern Germany, which began two hours late due to protests by thousands of demonstrators who blocked access roads and the congress venue.
In her acceptance speech, Weidel thanked the police for “freeing” her car from what she described as “a mob of leftists ready for violence,” referring to the protesters as “Nazis painted red.”
Weidel also extended her gratitude to Elon Musk for livestreaming the congress on his platform X. “Freedom of speech!” she shouted in English to the crowd’s applause.
Weidel outlined the party’s hardline policies, pledging to close Germany’s borders and reject undocumented migrants.
“If you want to call it remigration, then let it be called remigration,” she declared, using a controversial term that refers to deporting immigrants and people with foreign roots.
The AfD candidate vowed to dismantle Germany’s participation in the European asylum system, initiate large-scale deportations, and send a clear message that “the borders are closed.”
She also proposed scrapping climate policies, reactivating nuclear reactors, extending coal plant operations, and restarting the Nord Stream gas pipeline with Russia’s Gazprom.
On energy policy, Weidel criticized the government’s move away from fossil fuels, calling it “ideological madness.”
Weidel, who is openly lesbian, took aim at Germany’s gender studies programs, promising to shut them down.
She also railed against what she called “queer-woke” ideology, stating that Germany’s universities should focus on “practical education, not identity politics.”
Addressing supporters, Weidel accused the leading CDU-CSU bloc of copying the AfD’s agenda.
“Vote for the original,” she urged. “Germans want freedom—individual freedom, business freedom, and the freedom to live without state interference.” EFE
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