Alternative for Germany
Alternative für Deutschland |
|
---|---|
Abbreviation | AfD |
Chairperson | Frauke Petry |
Spokesperson | Jörg Meuthen |
Founded | 6 February 2013 |
Youth wing | Young Alternative for Germany |
Membership (2016) | 20,706 |
Ideology |
German nationalism Right-wing populism Euroscepticism National conservatism Economic liberalism Anti-Islam Social conservatism Christian right Antifeminism |
Political position | Right-wing to Far-right |
European affiliation | None |
European Parliament group |
EFDD, ENF |
Colours | Light blue |
Bundestag |
0 / 630
|
State Parliaments |
147 / 1,855
|
European Parliament |
2 / 96
|
Website | |
www |
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The Alternative for Germany (German: Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) is a right-wing populist and Euroscepticpolitical party in Germany.
Founded in April 2013, the party won 4.7% of the votes in the 2013 federal election, narrowly missing the 5% electoral threshold to sit in the Bundestag. In 2014 the party won 7.1% of the votes and 7 out of 96 German seats in the European election, and subsequently joined the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group until its exclusion in April 2016. As of September 2016[update], the AfD had gained representation in ten of the 16 German state parliaments. The party is currently led by Frauke Petry and Jörg Meuthen.
In September 2012, Alexander Gauland, a former State Secretary in Hesse, Bernd Lucke, an economist and Konrad Adam, a former editor of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 1979 to 2000 and chief correspondent of Die Welt until 2008, founded the political group Electoral Alternative 2013 (German: Wahlalternative 2013) in Bad Nauheim, to oppose German federal policies concerning the eurozone crisis. Their manifesto was endorsed by 68 economists, journalists, and business leaders, half of whom were professors and three-quarters of whom had academic degrees. The group stated that the eurozone had proven to be "unsuitable" as a currency area and that southern European states were "sinking into poverty under the competitive pressure of the euro".