Baden-Württemberg: Police officer Hess wants to lead the AfD state association to Weidel

Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Martin Hess, police officer and deputy domestic spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, wants to lead the Southwest AfD in the future.

Baden-Württemberg: Police officer Hess wants to lead the AfD state association to Weidel

Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Martin Hess, police officer and deputy domestic spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, wants to lead the Southwest AfD in the future. The 51-year-old wants to run for the state presidency at the party conference in Bad Cannstatt in early July, he told the German Press Agency. He is given a good chance of succeeding Alice Weidel at the head of the state association. Weidel no longer wants to run as state chairman. Hess sees himself as belonging to a moderate current in the party, he is close to Weidel and is already Vice President of the Board in the state association.

Weidel took office as head of state in February 2020 in order to pacify the divided state association. In the state elections last year, the AfD suffered heavy losses. She landed at 9.7 percent - that was a minus of 5.4 points. According to reports, the member of the Bundestag Dirk Spaniel could compete against Hess. Spaniel does not want to comment on this yet.