Meuthen prevailed with 69,18 percent against Nicole Höchst and Wolfgang Gedeon. Chrupalla was elected in the second ballot by 54 percent of the delegates.
Chrupalla has taken over Alexander Gauland’s post. He prevailed against Gottfried Curio and Dana Guth. The master painter from Saxony was down-to-earth and balanced during his campaign after Gauland had previously announced that he no longer wanted to run. He had named Chrupalla as his possible successor.
As deputy chairmen, Alice Weidel, Stephan Brandner and Beatrix von Storch were elected. Brandner and von Storch will replace Albrecht Glaser and Georg Pazderski. Both were unable to hold a majority in several ballots.
As treasurer Klaus Fohrmann was re-elected. He is so far the only one of the “100 against Höcke” of the old federal executive, which has succeeded. Carsten Hütter from Saxony is Deputy Treasurer.
In his opening speech, Meuthen addressed the party’s responsibility. He warned that he was “not available for an outside right-wing party”. The old and new chairman of the party echoed Alexander Gauland, who said in the opening speech that the party must remain a “patriotic, democratic and bourgeois people’s party”.
The dream of a few of a “small social-revolutionary party” is unrealistic, Gauland said. “We Germans are not good at revolutions.” If conservatives find their way back to a “rational national policy,” they would not be able to ignore the AfD in their search for a partner.
The AfD had “changed this country,” said Gauland. It has given a voice to those who oppose the dissolution of the nation states.
Chrupalla also received support from the vice-chairwoman of the AfD parliamentary group Alice Weidel. She told media representatives that the election of the Saxon member of parliament would be “a sign of respect for Gauland” and his merits as a bridge builder.
Thuringia’s head of state Björn Höcke said he wanted first and foremost an adequate representation of the East in the federal executive committee. Höcke has confirmed that he will not stand for a post on the federal executive board. “I have a lot to do in Thuringia and no time for Berlin,” he told journalists.
After the elections, ex-chairman Gauland was visibly satisfied. Gauland is the last of the party’s founders to leave the board.
