A power struggle between Alice Weidel and Martin Vincentz, the AfD’s state leader in North Rhine-Westphalia, is escalating. Within the party, there is already talk of a "declaration of war."

The deeply divided North Rhine-Westphalia state branch of the AfD remains in turmoil. An attempt by the federal executive board to broker a temporary truce between the two warring factions via a mediator collapsed after just a few minutes on Wednesday afternoon; both sides confirmed this to *Die Zeit* upon inquiry. The latest escalation stems from the state party convention held last weekend in Marl—involving the AfD’s largest state branch, with over 12,000 members—which ended in chaos. Both sides accuse the other of deliberately sabotaging the selection of candidates for next year’s state election or of influencing the process using methods that may even be criminal in nature.

The mediation meeting, held on Wednesday afternoon in a parliamentary group room at the Düsseldorf state parliament, was attended by the mediator as well as NRW state party leader Martin Vincentz and his rival Sven Tritschler, who also serves on the state executive board. According to Die Zeit, the process was initiated on Monday by the AfD’s federal executive board, which had been newly elected just two weeks prior. Most members of that body are close to federal leader Alice Weidel—including Tritschler, who has recently also become a deputy federal party leader. Weidel’s co-leader at the federal level, Tino Chrupalla, is in turn among those supporting Vincentz.

The conciliation meeting lasted only a few minutes.

The AfD’s federal executive board had selected a party member to serve as mediator who works professionally as the spokesperson for the AfD delegation in the European Parliament. According to his account, the mediation attempt at the Düsseldorf state parliament lasted only five to eight minutes. He had intended to explain the mediation process to the representatives of the two opposing factions—Vincentz and Tritschler—when Vincentz was led out of the room by two fellow party members from his own camp, the mediator told Die Zeit. No further discussions took place.

In a letter to the federal executive board—seen by Die Zeit—Vincentz now levels serious accusations. "The failure of this so-called mediation is evidently a deliberate plan by parts of the newly elected federal board majority, enabling the initiators to continue their campaign of sabotage in Marl." He claims the mediator is "unsuitable" because he works for a Member of Parliament close to the Weidel camp. Underlying this distrust of Weidel is the power struggle Vincentz is waging against Matthias Helferich, a völkisch MP from Dortmund. Helferich, too, is considered an ally of the party leader.

In a five-page account, the North Rhine-Westphalia state chairman describes in detail what allegedly transpired at the party conference last weekend. According to the account, Tritschler administered a chat group named "Operation Filibuster," the aim of which was reportedly to bring the conference to a standstill using "joke candidates." Die Zeit has obtained screenshots.

Sabotage accusation against party leader Alice Weidel

Indeed, nearly 100 candidates had applied for a single list position last Sunday, apparently with the aim of forcing negotiations regarding the subsequent list spots. By that point, the Vincentz camp had secured almost all of the first 20 positions, while the Helferich faction had largely failed.

In his letter, Vincentz accuses other state chapters—as well as the party leader herself—of having participated in the act of sabotage. Across the country, there is "shock at how a prospective chancellor candidate could allow such conditions to exist, or even actively foster them." People are "incredulous that a federal spokesperson fails to clearly distance herself from such undemocratic, Antifa-like excesses."

In contrast, he speaks approvingly of Weidel’s co-spokesperson, Tino Chrupalla. In a post on X, Chrupalla made it clear that a "blockade of majority decisions that abuses the party statutes is neither expedient nor in the party's best interest."

Weidel’s inner circle speaks of a "declaration of war"

The faction aligned with Tritschler—which includes Helferich—accuses the opposing side of having deliberately intimidated and even blackmailed delegates at the party conference to secure votes for one of their key candidates. A criminal complaint has been filed in at least one instance; Die Zeit has obtained a copy of it. In response to an inquiry from Die Zeit, Tritschler notes that it is striking that Vincentz makes no mention of the "numerous threats" and "other irregularities." Furthermore, he accuses the state party leader of being responsible for the failure of the mediation process.

Others in Weidel’s circle describe Vincentz’s allegations as absurd. They view his attacks on the party leader as a "declaration of war." Matthias Helferich told Die Zeit: "Vincentz cannot bear the fact that his own state branch has been mired in infighting for years, while Alice Weidel has united the party at the federal level and is leading it successfully."

Last weekend, delegates gathered in Marl elected only 22 of the approximately 80 candidates originally slated for selection. The proceedings were ultimately suspended on Sunday evening. Voting on the candidate list is scheduled to resume on Friday morning, though further chaos looms: a spokesperson for the state branch stated that, with the approval of the state executive board led by Vincentz, an additional hall has been rented at the conference venue in Marl. This space is intended to accommodate prospective candidates vying for the remaining list positions and to ensure the election process is legally sound. Under the rules of the NRW AfD, any German citizen can stand for election—party membership is not a requirement. Officials anticipate that radical groups, including Antifa, will mobilize in response. Given that candidates are allotted between two and eight minutes to present themselves, the election for the remaining list positions could drag on for hours, if not days.

Article translated by Google Translate, mistakes are my own.