As an openly gay politician who lives with her Sri Lanka-born partner in Switzerland, Alice Weidel was an unusual choice to many to lead Germany's far-right and anti-immigration AfD into

The leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, a conservative who has adopted many of the AfD’s hard-line positions on immigration, used his closing statement of the debate to promise his voters that he would never allow the AfD into his government. Under him, he said, the firewall would hold.

As Germany heads to the polls, a look at the politician cultivating the anti-immigrant party’s ‘image of competence’.

As Germany heads to parliamentary polls on Sunday (February 23), the spotlight will be firmly placed on the divisive far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and its leader, Alice Weidel.

On Sunday, the country’s residents will vote in a pivotal election in which Ms Weidel's party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), is tipped to come in second. A snap election was called at the end of last year by current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), when his coalition Government fell apart.

Alice Weidel, the leader of German far-right party AfD, held secret meetings with Chinese envoy to Germany for years. It has also emerged that she was on China’s payroll for several years.

Germany’s far-right AfD party, explained. Posted: February 21, 2025 \. More for You

Every time there is an election in Germany, starkly coloured polling maps make the rounds, tracing the old dividing line between East and West Germany during the Cold War with astonishing precision. The snap election this Sunday is no exception.