MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Frauke Petry, the leader of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, said Wednesday she did not want to be its sole lead candidate for chancellorship in this September’s general election.

"I am not available either as a sole frontrunner or a member of a lead [campaign] team," she said in a video address on Facebook.

Petry refuted accusations of allowing a split inside the party that created two rival camps with competing strategies ahead of this weekend’s party conference in Cologne, and insisted the AfD needed to map out a joint strategy.

"It is important that we are able to discuss urgent issues, such as our [election] bid, which will determine AfD’s future in the coming months and years, without having to deal with alleged or real personnel problems," she said.

Germans are expected to vote on September 24 in a general election that will elect a new government and chancellor. This will be the second federal election for the populist AfD, founded in 2013, which is expected to win seats this time. </s> BERLIN: Frauke Petry, leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), said on Wednesday she would not lead the anti-immigration party's campaign ahead of a Sept. 24 federal election.

"In order to put an end to all speculation in this regard, I am using the opportunity of this video message to clearly state that I am neither available for a lone lead candidacy nor for participation in a top team," she said on Facebook.

The AfD is holding a party congress at the weekend to decide on its leadership line-up for the election, at which the party is expected to win sufficient support to enter the Bundestag lower house of parliament for the first time. </s> BERLIN (Reuters) - Frauke Petry, co-leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), said on Wednesday she would not lead the anti-immigration party’s campaign for a Sept. 24 federal election - a surprising move that could play into the hands of established parties.

FILE PHOTO: Anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) chairwoman Frauke Petry delivers her keynote speech at the AfD's election campaign launch for the upcoming North Rhine-Westphalian federal state elections in Essen, Germany April 8, 2017. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay /File Photo

The shock decision by Petry, the face of the AfD, removes her from the very top of a party that has hurt Angela Merkel’s conservatives in regional votes but which may now pose less of a threat to the chancellor’s bid for a fourth term in office.

Petry’s announcement came after she caused controversy by tabling a motion for a congress next weekend in which she said the AfD - which is shunned by other parties - should be ready to join coalitions in future. She said some other senior AfD members like Alexander Gauland, however, wanted it to be a “fundamental” opposition party.

Speaking in a video message posted on her Facebook page, Petry denied suggestions that she had made the proposal with a view to becoming the party’s top candidate.

“In order to put an end to all speculation in this regard, I am using the opportunity of this video message to clearly state that I am neither available for a lone lead candidacy nor for participation in a top team,” she said.

Opinion polls show the AfD winning enough votes to enter the Bundestag lower house of parliament for the first time after September’s election.

But the party has lost about a third of its supporters since late last year, hit by a slowdown in migrant arrivals, AfD infighting and controversy over its attitude to the Nazi past.

Petry said she had decided not to run as it was important for the AfD to discuss issues such as her proposal on the party’s future strategy - which the majority of regional AfD branches oppose - without being hindered by personnel questions.

OTHER PARTIES TO GAIN?

Thomas Jaeger, a political scientist at Cologne University, said it would be hard for anyone else to rival Petry in terms of public profile, forcing whoever takes up the leadership role to take tough positions to get the same attention she has enjoyed.

Petry is a 41-year-old chemist from the former Communist East Germany and is expecting her fifth child.

A far right-wing candidate would probably still manage to lead the AfD into parliament but would deter some voters, said Jaeger.

“All those (parties) who lost some points - and that’s actually all of them - will regain some percentage points, albeit to differing extents,” he said.

The AfD, which rails against Merkel’s decision to allow more than a million migrants into Germany since mid-2015, is due to decide on its election leadership line-up at a weekend gathering in Cologne, where tens of thousands of protesters are expected.

Petry’s camp wants to expel from the party a senior member, Bjoern Hoecke, for calling Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial a “monument of shame” and saying history books should be re-written to focus more on German victims of the Nazis.

Petry managed to secure a two-thirds majority on the party executive board in favor of expelling Hoecke. However, the far-right wing of the AfD supports him and a party arbitration board must now decide his fate.

A Forsa opinion poll published on Wednesday showed the AfD winning eight percent in the election, well above the five percent threshold needed to win seats in the Bundestag. Merkel’s conservatives are seen remaining the largest party bloc.

Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine has reported that Petry’s opponents agreed at a secret meeting last week to form a team around Gauland, a 76-year-old publicist, and 38-year-old economist Alice Weidel - who, like Petry, wants Hoecke ousted.

The AfD could not be reached for comment on the report. </s> Saxony’s state parliament lifted the parliamentary immunity of Frauke Petry, the co-chair of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, DW reports.

Petry is accused of lying under oath about campaign financing of the 2014 campaign in Saxony. AfD financed that campaign through a series of loans from its candidates. When one of its candidates refused the loan, he was taken off the party list.

Petry testified to an electoral oversight committee in November 2015 that she did not know of the loans at the time. That testimony has been disputed by a Die Linke MP. If found guilty, Petry faces six months to one year in jail.

Following the lifting of her immunity, prosecutors are bracing to press charges of alleged perjury. On the countdown for Germany’s national legislative elections on September 24, AfD is polling in the region of 9%, which means it will pass the 5% threshold and enter the Bundestag. </s> The co-chairwoman of the nationalist Alternative for Germany party said today she plans to leave it just two days after it made a strong showing in the country's elections.

Frauke Petry's announcement came as other politicians from the anti-migrant party gathered for their first meeting after their breakthrough.

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won 12.6% of the vote in Sunday's election to win seats in the national parliament for the first time.

Ms Petry, its co-chairwoman since 2015, announced on Monday that she would not join its parliamentary group and other leaders urged her to leave the party altogether.

"It is clear that this step will follow," Ms Petry said on Tuesday in the eastern city of Dresden, in remarks reported by the dpa news agency.

Ms Petry's husband, Marcus Pretzell, the party leader in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia and a regional politician there, said he is also leaving AfD.

AfD won 94 of the 709 seats in the new German parliament, including Ms Petry's.

It was not immediately clear whether any others would follow Ms Petry, who moved AfD's focus from opposing eurozone bailouts to migration after she took over in 2015 but has been increasingly sidelined in recent months.

Ms Petry has said she was aiming to make the AfD ready for government in 2021, and urged her party earlier this year to exclude members who expressed extremist views.

She said on Monday that "an anarchic party" can be successful in opposition but cannot eye a place in government, before storming out of a press conference and leaving other party leaders momentarily speechless.

Fellow AfD members appeared relatively unconcerned by Ms Petry's departure as they gathered in Berlin.

Asked whether other politicians will follow Ms Petry, co-leader Alexander Gauland said: "I hope not, but I can't look into people's heads."

Sunday's election left Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc weakened but still easily the biggest group in parliament.

Mrs Merkel now faces a complicated task in forming a coalition, most likely with the pro-business Free Democrats and the traditionally left-leaning Greens.

Her partners in the outgoing government, the centre-left Social Democrats, say they will go into opposition after they lost substantial support in the vote.

Mrs Merkel also faces calls from her own allies for a more robust conservative image. </s> BERLIN (Reuters) - A regional parliament has lifted the immunity of the best known politician in the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, opening the way for prosecutors to pursue possible perjury charges against her.

Frauke Petry, leader of the anti immigration party Alternative fuer Deutschland (AFD) before a press conference in Berlin, Germany, May 15, 2017. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

Frauke Petry, who is the AfD’s co-chairwoman, has been dogged by allegations that she lied under oath to a committee of the Saxony parliament about how the party’s campaign for the 2014 election in the state was financed.

The ending of her immunity from prosecution adds to the right-wing party’s problems less than four weeks before a national election. Weakened by infighting, it has bled support over the last year as voters’ concerns about immigration have eased.

Prosecutors have pursued the case against Petry, who denies the allegations, for more than a year.

Her immunity as a member of the Saxony’s parliament ended at midnight, a spokesman for the assembly said.

A spokesman for prosecutors in the state capital Dresden said they would await written confirmation of that from the parliament’s president before any further proceedings could be agreed upon.

The AfD is polling between 7 and 10 percent in opinion surveys - well down from a high of 15.5 percent at the end of 2016 but still clearing the 5-percent threshold needed to enter the federal parliament in the Sept. 24 national election.

Petry cuts an increasingly isolated figure in the AfD, which she transformed from an anti-euro party at its founding in 2013 into a group that taps into voters’ concerns about migration.

The party soared in the polls after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision in 2015 to open Germany’s borders to migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, of whom more than a million have since arrived.

At a party conference in April, Petry suffered a humiliating defeat when delegates refused to discuss her plan to shift the party towards the mainstream. </s> BERLIN, April 19 (Reuters) - Frauke Petry, co-leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), said on Wednesday she would not lead the anti-immigration party's campaign for a Sept. 24 federal election - a shock announcement from the woman seen as the face of the party.

Opinion polls show the AfD winning enough votes to enter the Bundestag lower house of parliament for the first time. But the AfD has lost about a third of its supporters as migrant arrivals to Germany have eased and the party has also been hit by infighting and controversy over its attitude to the Nazi past.

Petry caused controversy by tabling a motion for a party congress next weekend in which she said the AfD - which is shunned by other parties - should be ready to join coalitions in future. She also said some senior AfD members such as Alexander Gauland wanted it to be a "fundamental" opposition party.

Speaking in a video message posted on her Facebook page, Petry said she had been accused of making the proposal solely to become the party's top candidate despite her not mentioning that idea in her motion.

"In order to put an end to all speculation in this regard, I am using the opportunity of this video message to clearly state that I am neither available for a lone lead candidacy nor for participation in a top team," she said.

The AfD, which rails against Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to allow more than a million migrants into Germany since mid-2015, is due to decide on its election leadership line-up at its weekend gathering in the western city of Cologne.

Petry's camp wants to expel from the party a senior member, Bjoern Hoecke, for calling Berlin's Holocaust Memorial a "monument of shame" and saying history books should be re-written to focus more on German victims of the Nazis.

Petry, a 41-year-old chemist from the former Communist East Germany, managed to secure a two-thirds majority on the party executive board in favour of expelling Hoecke. The far-right wing of the AfD supports him, however, and a party arbitration board must now decide his fate.

A Forsa opinion poll published on Wednesday showed the AfD winning eight percent in the election, well above the five percent threshold needed to win seats in the Bundestag. Merkel's conservatives are seen emerging as the largest party.

Germany's Der Spiegel magazine has reported that Petry's opponents agreed at a secret meeting last week to form a team around 76-year-old publicist Gauland and 38-year-old economist Alice Weidel - who, like Petry, wants Hoecke ousted. The AfD could not be reached for comment on the report. (Additional reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann and Paul Carrel; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Madeline Chambers and Gareth Jones) </s> COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Germany's best-known nationalist politician on Saturday called on members of the Alternative for Germany to endorse her more pragmatic course instead of turning the party into a "fundamental opposition," an appeal that appeared to reveal the growing split among the populist party's leading figures.

Speaking in front of AfD members at a party convention in the western city of Cologne, Frauke Petry said that party needs to set the course for a "spiritual-moral change" in Germany and the rest of Europe.

The convention takes place days after Petry said that she won't be her party's top candidate in the September general election, a move seen by many as a consequence to the party leaders' infighting about the future direction of the AfD.

The convention in a Cologne hotel was overshadowed by massive left-wing demonstrations. Around 50,000 left-wing protesters were expected and about 4,000 police officers were on the ground in Cologne to prevent a violent escalation of anti-populist rallies.

Protesters injured one police officer Saturday morning while trying to block the hotel where about 600 AfD members were gathered.

The German news agency dpa reported that AfD party members could enter their convention center only with massive police protection because hundreds of demonstrators tried to keep them out.

Petry became co-leader of the four-year-old AfD in 2015. She ousted fellow founder Bernd Lucke, an economics professor, shifting the party's focus from economic issues to immigration and Islam.

AfD's poll ratings soared with the influx of migrants to Germany in late 2015 and early 2016. However, they have sagged in recent months as the issue faded from headlines and the party became increasingly mired in infighting with Petry and her husband, Marcus Pretzell, on one side, and other senior figures even further on the right.

Petry, 41, also irked some rivals by leading an effort to expel Bjoern Hoecke, AfD's regional leader in eastern Thuringia state, after he suggested that Germany stop acknowledging and atoning for its Nazi past.

With her refusal to become the AfD's top candidate on Wednesday, Petry ended months of speculation about her ambitions to lead the party's effort to enter the national parliament for the first time in Germany's Sept. 24 election.

She did not, however, suggest any plans to step down as party chairwoman.

German political parties choose lead candidates for elections who generally dominate their campaigns and, in the case of bigger parties, compete to become chancellor. </s> BERLIN — A leader of the nationalist Alternative for Germany has laid open differences inside the party after it surged to third place in Germany’s election, announcing she won’t join its new parliamentary caucus.

Frauke Petry is the co-chairwoman of Alternative for Germany, or AfD, but has increasingly been sidelined by other leaders over recent months. AfD was particularly successful in Petry’s home region of Saxony in Sunday’s election, and Petry herself won a seat.

Petry has said she wants to make the party ready for government in 2021, while others have made clear their priority is no-holds-barred opposition.

Petry said at a news conference Monday with other leaders: “An anarchic party … can be successful in opposition, but it cannot make voters a credible offer for government.”

Petry said she wouldn’t join AfD’s parliamentary caucus and walked out without taking questions.

Petry has differed over strategy with the AfD’s campaign headliners, Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland, who she has suggested aren’t doing enough to attract middle-of-the-road voters to the party. Founded in 2013 to oppose financial bailouts of other euro-area countries, the AfD focused its campaign on vilifying Merkel for her open-borders refugee policy.

“I have decided that I won’t belong to the AfD caucus in the German Bundestag, but will sit for the time being as an individual member,” Petry, 42, told reporters.

Before walking out, she said the AfD needs to start a “conservative turnaround” with the aim of joining Germany’s government after the next scheduled election in 2021.

Petry, who won 37.4 percent of the vote in her district in the eastern state of Saxony, said she’ll nonetheless “continue to be active in making policy.” It wasn’t immediately clear whether any other members of the AfD’s 94-member caucus would join in her in sitting off on her own in parliament.

“A high share of votes for the AfD was predictable from the polls and we can continue to assume that the AfD will not influence government politics in Germany for the foreseeable future,” Commerzbank analysts including currency strategist Ulrich Leuchtmann said in a note to clients.

Petry’s move sheds light on discord within the lower house’s youngest party that remained below the surface during the campaign. While support for Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led bloc fell to the lowest since 1949, she won a mandate for a fourth term and no other party in parliament wants to ally with the AfD.

In an interview with the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper before the election, Petry said “middle-class voters are turning away” from the AfD because some of its members are making headlines that tarnish the party’s reputation.

Her criticism followed comments by Gauland, who said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee commissioner, who is of Turkish descent, should be “disposed of” in Anatolia, a comment Merkel called racist.

Gauland, a former member of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, also said Germans have a right to take pride in the achievements of German soldiers in the 20th century’s two world wars.

With files from The Associated Press and Bloomberg News
Frauke Petry resigns as leader of the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD), a day after the party won seats in the Bundestag for the first time, saying the party has become too "anarchical" and "could not offer a credible platform".