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.

Germany's elections are taking place on Sunday, and it is the party set to finish second that is attracting much of the attention. The far-right AfD could win as many as 145 of the Bundestag's 630 seats, according to polling. This comes just 12 years after the party was founded.

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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.