NRW: AfD-Machtkampf eskaliert! "So stark geworden, dass sie nur noch sich selbst besiegen kann!"

North Rhine-Westphalia: AfD power struggle escalates! "It's become so strong that it can only defeat itself!" Tumult, insults – finally, one faction leaves the hall in protest. The power struggle within the AfD in North Rhine-Westphalia is escalating. State leader Vincentz can now push through his candidates. Accompanied by violent tumult and loud insults, the power struggle within the North Rhine-Westphalia AfD has escalated further. At a party conference, the faction around state leader Martin Vincentz succeeded in ensuring that a large portion of the promising list positions for next year's state elections will be filled with their own people. The faction behind federal chairwoman Alice Weidel was largely left empty-handed. Delegates also rejected by a clear majority the federal executive committee's demand to abandon the compilation of the state list and start again later. The Weidel faction subsequently left the hall in protest. Deputy state chairman Christian Zaum called it a "party conference of shame." The party's federal executive committee is reportedly considering removing Vincentz and the North Rhine-Westphalia state executive committee from their posts. Vincentz's opponents launched "Operation Filibuster" The party's election conference began last weekend in Marl, in the northern Ruhr region, and is scheduled to continue over several weekends into the fall. Delegates are deciding who will run for the AfD in which position on the state list for the state election in Germany's most populous state. Given its high poll numbers, the party expects to enter the state parliament in 2027 with at least 30 seats. Currently, the AfD holds 12 seats in parliament. However, the state association has long been deeply divided, splitting into a more moderate faction around Vincentz and a more right-wing faction. This power struggle escalated again last weekend. The group behind Weidel accused the Vincentz faction of only electing their own people instead of considering all factions within the party. Finally, a group of delegates launched "Operation Filibuster." A filibuster is a tactic used to prevent a parliament from reaching a decision through continuous speeches. At the AfD party conference, this worked by suddenly nominating more than 90 candidates for the 22nd spot on the party list. Each of them was allotted eight minutes of speaking time – completely disrupting the conference's schedule last weekend. Federal leadership intervenes – state leader speaks of "sabotage" The spiral of escalation continued even between the two party conference weekends. The federal party leadership intervened in a letter. Weidel and co-party leader Tino Chrupalla accused Vincentz of irregularities in the nomination of the candidate list. Several accounts, essentially consistent in their content, suggest "that voting delegates were threatened or subjected to considerable pressure," the party leaders wrote to the North Rhine-Westphalia state executive committee. Specifically, both demanded that Vincentz abandon the compilation of the state list and restart the party conference. Vincentz vehemently rejected this demand and launched a counterattack. He accused the opposing camp of apparently only being interested in "generating a state parliament list acceptable to the federal executive committee." In his reply to Weidel and Chrupalla, Vincentz described "Operation Filibuster" as "sabotage." He also remarked that it spoke volumes that the federal executive committee hadn't uttered a word about it. Vincentz was able to nominate one candidate after another. On Friday, the party conference in Marl officially resumed. The camp surrounding the federal executive committee also formally submitted a motion to adjourn the conference. However, a clear majority of the nearly 500 delegates voted against it. #afd #nrw #weltnachrichtensender 🔔 Subscribe to our WELT-TV news channel!    / weltvideotv   Our YouTube channels: 📺 WELT DOKU    / @weltdoku   ⚽ WELT SPORT    / @welt-sport   🚀 WELT SPACE    / @weltspace   🛣️ WELT DRIVE    / @weltdrive   🪖 WELT HISTORY    / @welthistory   🍝 WELT FOOD    / @welt.food-rezepte   WELT News Live Stream http://bit.ly/2fwuMPg Our Top News on WELT.de http://bit.ly/2rQQD9Q Our Media Library on WELT.de http://bit.ly/2Iydxv8 WELT TV on Instagram   / welt.nachrichtensender   WELT on Instagram   / welt   Due to numerous offensive comments, comments are currently disabled. Thank you for your understanding – your WELT team. Video created in 2026