AfD party conference confirms Weidel and Chrupalla with a clear majority
Both co-chairpersons appeared in Essen without opposing candidates. At the party conference in Riesa in the summer of 2022, Chrupalla only just managed to secure 53% of the votes for the chairmanship. He described the result in Essen as "overwhelming". Weidel had received 67% of the votes two years ago in Riesa.
In their application speeches before the delegates in Essen, Chrupalla and Weidel drew a positive balance of the co-chairmanship. The AfD is "as strong as ever before", said Chrupalla. He and Weidel had "calmed down" the previously strained party.
Both emphasized their desire to lead the AfD to government power. One of the central tasks of their new tenure, according to Weidel, was to "tear down these unsightly walls" that other parties had erected to distinguish themselves from the AfD. "We did not build these walls, but we do not want undemocratic walls in Germany," Weidel said.
Chrupalla expressed the goal of governing on a state level after the September state elections in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg. "The sun of government responsibility will rise for us in the east," Chrupalla said. "This party will change the country, I promise."
During the AfD party conference in Riesa later that year, Alice Weidel lauded Chrupalla for securing a majority with 53% of the votes, despite the close margin. Tino Chrupalla, now in his new term, acknowledged the support but looked back on his previous election in Riesa where he received 67% of the votes. At the AfD party conference in Essen, both leaders presented their vision for the party, emphasizing their ambition to lead the AfD to government power and Chrupalla specifically aiming for state-level governance after the September elections in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg.
