- Title: Germany's AfD top candidate Alice Weidel happy with result
- Date: 26th September 2021
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 26, 2021) (REUTERS) CARS ARRIVING FOR POST-ELECTION TELEVISION DEBATE OF THE PARTY CANDIDATES AFD TOP CANDIDATE AND PARLIAMENTARY FLOOR LEADER, ALICE WEIDEL, GETTING OUT OF CAR / WEIDEL GOING TO TALK TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (German) AFD TOP CANDIDATE AND PARLIAMENTARY FLOOR LEADER, ALICE WEIDEL, SAYING (to question on what she thinks of result): "Very good! We are in the double figures, we have been able to assert ourselves. This assertions that we would be gone from parliament after one legislative period has utterly failed and we are very very happy." REPORTER ASKS WHAT SHE THINKS ABOUT FACT THAT THE PARTY HAS MADE LOSSES (SOUNDBITE) (German) AFD TOP CANDIDATE AND PARLIAMENTARY FLOOR LEADER, ALICE WEIDEL, SAYING: "It doesn't matter as the entire machinery has been against us anyway for the last four years and of course there are also now new players in the field like the 'free voters'." WHITE FLASH WEIDEL GOING INTO VENUE
- Embargoed: 10th October 2021 18:48
- Keywords: AfD Alexander Gauland Alice Weidel German election German election results Joerg Meuthen Tino Chrupalla
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Europe,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA001EWCUEDJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Leaders of Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Sunday (September 26) put on a brave face after projected election results showed support for the far-right party dropping.
Alice Weidel one of the party's top candidates said that considering the negative media treatment and the arrival of other similar parties that had diluted support, the party had done well.
"We are in the double figures, we have been able to assert ourselves. This assertions that we would be gone from parliament after one legislative period has utterly failed and we are very very happy," Weidel said on the way in to a post-polls television debate.
The AfD has been weakened by an internal power struggle between co-leader Joerg Meuthen who wants to purge the party of members with suspected links to neo-Nazi groups and a more nationalist camp that sees no need for action.
Its opposition to lockdowns and distancing rules during the pandemic have also put off voters, pollsters said before the election.
The AfD stormed into the national parliament for the first time in 2017 buoyed by voters angry with Merkel's 2015 decision to welcome almost one million asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa.
It is shunned by all mainstream political parties, which accuse it of fostering divisions through verbal attacks on Muslims and migrants. The AfD has denied harbouring racist views.
(Production: Tilman Blasshofer, Fanny Brodersen, Fedja Grulovic, Petra Wischgoll, Tanya Wood) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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