Baden-Württemberg: Mud battle ante portas? Südwest-AfD is struggling for a new course

Alice Weidel does not want to continue at the head of the AfD Baden-Württemberg.

Baden-Württemberg: Mud battle ante portas? Südwest-AfD is struggling for a new course

Alice Weidel does not want to continue at the head of the AfD Baden-Württemberg. Two very different men are reaching for power in the national association. It should be exciting at the party conference - also for the protection of the constitution, which observes the AfD.

Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Overshadowed by the observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Southwest AfD is struggling over its future political course in Stuttgart at the weekend. Alice Weidel, leader of the Bundestag parliamentary group and recently also co-leader of the federal party, wants to concentrate on her Berlin offices in the future and no longer stand for the party leadership in the southwest. A big topic at the party conference should be that the entire state association is now being observed by the Baden-Württemberg Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) only announced this on Thursday - two days before the party congress - in Stuttgart. The Southwest authority sees "sufficiently weighty factual evidence" for anti-constitutional efforts in the AfD Baden-Württemberg. The secret service agents are allowed to take a closer look at the right-wing populists, observe members under strict conditions, monitor phones and recruit informants.

A directional decision is emerging at the Stuttgart trade fair. A fierce rift continues through the Südwest party. Some of the members stand for a more moderate, right-wing conservative course. The other part sympathizes with the "wing", which is now classified as a right-wing extremist, which has actually been dissolved - but which still has a structural and significant influence on the state association, as the President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Beate Bube, said on Thursday.

Martin Hess, a police officer and member of the Bundestag, wants to become Weidel's successor and has called for his party to be differentiated from "problematic groups and individuals." He sees himself as belonging to a moderate current in the party, is close to Weidel and is already Vice President of the Board in the state association.

Dirk Spaniel, another member of the Bundestag, also wants to run for the presidency in the southwest - but with a different orientation. Spaniel calls for a turnaround and a jolt through the party. In the past, spaniels were repeatedly said to be close to the ethnic-national "wing".

It is completely unclear whether there are other candidates or whether there will be a double leadership again. Many people expect another public mud fight. 800 to 1000 participants are expected.

In the state elections last year, the AfD suffered heavy losses. She landed at 9.7 percent - a minus of 5.4 points.