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| AfD leader quits party hours after German election breakthrough | AfD leader quits party hours after German election breakthrough |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The rightwing nationalist Alternative für Deutschland, in celebratory mode after coming third in Germany’s elections, was delivered a bombshell by its leader on Monday morning after she announced she would not sit with the party in the Bundestag. | |
| Frauke Petry walked out of a press conference at which the party leadership marvelled at its success, having secured 13% of the vote and 88 seats in the federal parliament. | Frauke Petry walked out of a press conference at which the party leadership marvelled at its success, having secured 13% of the vote and 88 seats in the federal parliament. |
| The departure of the woman who was the party’s most prominent figure illustrates just how split the AfD remains, despite attempts to show a united front during the election campaign. | The departure of the woman who was the party’s most prominent figure illustrates just how split the AfD remains, despite attempts to show a united front during the election campaign. |
| Petry, on the moderate wing of the party, saw her role as that of uniting the AfD. But she has earned scorn from the rightwing nationalists who have become the stronger force, increasingly sidelining opponents within the party. | |
| In April, she attempted to lead the party towards what she called a more realistic and pragmatic approach, so that, she said, it would have a chance to enter coalition governments. | In April, she attempted to lead the party towards what she called a more realistic and pragmatic approach, so that, she said, it would have a chance to enter coalition governments. |
| But her co-leader, Jörg Meuthen, and the party’s leading election candidates, Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel, rejected her stance, arguing the party’s goal should be to act as a strong opposition in the Bundestag to the politics of Angela Merkel, the chancellor. | But her co-leader, Jörg Meuthen, and the party’s leading election candidates, Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel, rejected her stance, arguing the party’s goal should be to act as a strong opposition in the Bundestag to the politics of Angela Merkel, the chancellor. |
| Shortly after the packed press conference opened in Berlin, Petry said “after a long period of contemplation” she would not join the party in the Bundestag and instead serve as an independent MP for her constituency in Saxony, where she narrowly beat the Christian Democrats. | |
| She stood up and walked out with a smile, leaving her party colleagues looking stunned and prompting gasps from the press corps. Meuthen accused Petry of “dropping a bomb”, adding: “That was not discussed with us in advance. We knew nothing about it.” | She stood up and walked out with a smile, leaving her party colleagues looking stunned and prompting gasps from the press corps. Meuthen accused Petry of “dropping a bomb”, adding: “That was not discussed with us in advance. We knew nothing about it.” |