Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has lost its third chair in nine years. Jörg Meuthen is the latest to have succumbed to an internal power struggle over the party’s direction. His departure last week ends any illusions about the AfD eventually becoming a viable option in German politics.
Like his predecessors Bernd Lucke and Frauke Petry, Meuthen stood down as chair – and quit the party – because of concerns about radicalisation. ‘The heart of the party today beats very far to the right,’ he said. ‘I can see the totalitarian overtones.’
Since its creation in 2013, the AfD has been through a metamorphosis from an economically liberal, soft Eurosceptic and conservative alternative to Germany’s centre-right CDU into a right-wing party, steered by nativism and now apparently totalitarian characteristics.
‘The heart of the party today beats very far to the right,’ said Jörg Meuthen. ‘I can see the totalitarian overtones.
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