The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has nominated Alice Weidel as its candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the upcoming parliamentary elections to be held in February.
AfD has been gaining popularity lately and is currently the second strongest party in the country after the center-right Christian Democrats. AfD currently has between 18 percent and 19 percent in the polls.
This is the first time that the AfD has proposed its own candidate for chancellor. However, there is little chance that it will become that, since the other parties refuse to cooperate with the extreme right.
Weidel, a 45-year-old economist, said she would restart the country's ailing economy, end Germany's energy transition and sharply reduce all immigration. Today Weidel called illegal migration to Germany "the source of all evil".
The AfD's fierce anti-immigration stance and revelations of plans by other German far-right movements to deport millions of immigrants and their relatives if they come to power in Germany led to weeks of protests in the country last winter.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling coalition fell apart last month. Scholz plans to call a vote of confidence in parliament on December 16. He is expected to lose, paving the way for elections on February 23.
Deep dissatisfaction with the Scholz government over inflation and a weak economy, as well as anti-immigration sentiment and skepticism about German military aid to Ukraine are among the factors that have contributed to support for the AfD.
Other candidates for chancellor are current chancellor Scholz from the Social Democratic Party, Fridrih Mertz from the Christian Democrats and Robert Habek from the Ecologist - Greens.
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