Alice Weidel, German far right’s unlikely hope for chancellor

German far-right leader Alice Weidel lives in Switzerland with her female partner from Sri Lanka – Copyright AFP Fayez Nureldine

Olivier FENIET with Celine Le Prioux in Berlin

As someone born in West Germany who is openly gay and has a non-German partner, Alice Weidel is in some ways a surprising choice as the far-right AfD’s candidate for chancellor ahead of February elections.

But the 45-year-old who says Margaret Thatcher is her political idol has helped create new momentum for the AfD by digging into some of its more radical positions and cosying up to US tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Weidel, who lives in Switzerland and has two sons with her Sri Lankan partner, was officially crowned as the AfD’s chancellor candidate at an upbeat party conference this weekend.

The AfD has long been polling in second place behind the conservatives but one survey on Saturday showed it had increased its vote share to 22 percent — a score that would be its highest ever result at the national level.

The AfD has little chance of being part of Germany’s next government since working with the far right remains a major taboo in German politics because of its Nazi history. 

But Weidel has managed to make a big mark on the election campaign since she was first nominated as the party’s pick for chancellor in December.

Last week Weidel was hosted by Musk, the world’s richest man and a key Donald Trump ally, for a wide-ranging livestream on his X social media platform. 

Musk also boosted the livestream of the AfD’s congress this weekend by sharing it on his own X account, helping it gain a worldwide audience.

– ‘Perfect fig leaf’ –

Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine said Weidel was “the perfect fig leaf” for a party often accused of not being inclusive.

“If someone accuses the AfD of being misogynistic, homophobic or racist, they can say they have Weidel… so the AfD cannot be all of those things, even though it is,” the magazine said.

Often seen wearing a pearl necklace and a trouser suit, Weidel was born and educated in western Germany — while the AfD’s core voter base is in the country’s former communist east.

She later lived in China for a year, working at Bank of China, before moving on to Goldman Sachs.

Weidel first joined the AfD in 2013, the year it was founded, and unlike many other early members who quit as it became more overtly xenophobic, she stayed. 

Weidel represents a more moderate wing of the AfD that “aspires to an independent existence to the right of the conservatives, with the possibility of forming a coalition”, according to Wolfgang Schroeder, a professor of politics at Kassel University.

As a West German and a gay woman, Weidel has had “some problems connecting with the ideology of her party”, according to political scientist Anna-Sophie Heinze from Trier University.

But she has gained broader support by “slowly giving up her initial criticism” of figures like Bjoern Hoecke, a lodestar for the radical right in the party, Heinze said.

She has also stood out for her ability to avoid being caught up in many of the controversies surrounding her party in recent years.

– ‘More radical than ever’ –

However, Weidel has not shied away from some of the party’s more radical positions in the run-up to the election.

In her chat with Musk, Weidel described Hitler as a “communist” and a “socialist”, leading to accusations of historical revisionism.

And in her speech at the party congress on Saturday, Weidel was sounding “more radical than ever”, according to an analysis by the NTV news channel.

The first 100 days of a government containing the AfD would see the “total closing of Germany’s borders and the turning back anyone travelling without documents” as well as “large-scale repatriations”, she said.

“I say to you quite honestly, if this must be called remigration, then let it be called remigration.”

While Marine Le Pen in France and Giorgia Meloni in Italy have made inroads into the mainstream, Weidel remains “the opposition within the opposition” in Germany, according to Schroeder. 

While other far-right parties have sought to tack towards the middle or at least soften their image, the AfD “does not want to adapt”, Schroeder said.

“Weidel is still anchored in the anti-system attitude,” he said.