German far-right AfD party taps Alice Weidel as chancellor candidate

Alice Weidel, co-chair of Alternative for Germany (AfD), will represent the far-right party in the race to become Germany’s next chancellor in a snap election on Feb. 23.

Weidel, a 45-year-old business analyst from western Germany, has been co-head of the AfD since 2017 and is considered a part of the more moderate faction of the Euroskeptic party.

The politician stands out for being an openly lesbian member of the populist party, living in Switzerland with her female partner and two children. (Weidel describes her primary residence as being in Germany.)

As the anti-immigrant AfD struggles to shake off accusations of Nazi sympathy, the family history of Alice Weidel has also come under the spotlight — specifically her late grandfather, who was a prominent military judge under the Nazi regime.

Current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a federal election after the collapse of his three-party coalition in November, which included the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the economically liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Polling at about 18 percent, AfD is the second-most-popular party in Germany after the conservative bloc (CDU/CSU), which is currently polling at 32 percent.

It’s the first time in the nearly 12 years of the party’s existence that the AfD puts forward a chancellor candidate.