(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, FEB 24 - German far-right leader Alice
Weidel on Monday said she was aiming for her Alternative for
Germany (AfD) to become the strongest party in the country after
a record election performance. The AfD scored its best ever
result to finish in second place with just under 21 percent in
Sunday's vote, behind only the conservative CDU-CSU which came
first on 28.6 percent. Weidel, who led the AfD as its candidate
to be chancellor in the election campaign, said she believed the
party could "overtake the CDU within the next few years for the
next election... to become the strongest force" in Germany. The
anti-immigration AfD remains a pariah for many German voters
amid guilt over the country's Nazi past and has been labelled as
right-wing extremist in some chapters of the party by German
security services. However, the party enjoyed a surge of support
in the run-up to the election, partly due to vocal endorsement
from senior figures in the administration of US President Donald
Trump. "We are a people's party," Weidel said on Monday. She
also highlighted the fact that the AfD had done "very well"
among young voters, hailing this as an "indicator that we are
the party of the future". The AfD came second among voters aged
18 to 24 with a share of support similar to its overall result,
according to a survey by public broadcaster ARD and pollster
Infratest Dimap. Only the far-left Die Linke party did better,
with 25 percent. Weidel called for other parties to drop their
so-called firewall against cooperation with the AfD. "They
cannot exclude millions of voters. That is undemocratic. The
firewall must go -- no functioning democracy has a firewall,"
she said. (ANSA-AFP).
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