German Federal Election - Sept. 24 - Results Thread

[Sozialliberal]

Free voters have become the eighth-biggest party with 1.0%, narrowly leading Die PARTEI by 10,000 votes.

The Free Voters also gained about 39,000 party list votes in this election. Hip hip hooray!

I don't worry too much about the AfD. We''ll see a lot of infighting from them in the next years. We already saw that in the state parliaments. I think Petry's announcement that she doesn't want to sit with AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag is just the beginning.

[Sozialliberal]

But why does Petry do this? Because her ego was hurt?

Despite moving AfD more to the right after deposing Lucke she felt AfD was way too right wing this year and said she wanted to make AfD more palpable towards being allowed into coalitions by moderating a little back. But her party disagreed and stuck to its course.  Im guessing she waited until after the election to announce she was sitting as an independent because the leader leaving during the election campaign would of made the party lose support due to inner fighting.

Well, that's obviously what she says, but I'm wondering about the real reason. Petry herself had made AfD much more extreme and thereby completely uncoalitionable already.

The reasons why Petry leaves the AfD caucus are highly debateable. I personally am amazed how so many non-Afd-sympathizers were ready to buy into her story from the moment she lost the power struggle against Gauland, Meuthen and Co. I mean, she was leading a far-right putsch in an alreading right-leaning party and suddenly people believe her just because it fits into their narrative.
Petry, instigated by her husband Pretzell, wanted to transform the AfD into a leader-centered party like many right-wing populist parties in Europe are. This concept doesn't work for the AfD and she should have known her own party better. She also was at odds with the rest of the leadership (some of them historically more "moderate" than her like Meuthen) for mainly personal reasons.

Maybe Petry wants to attract voters as a wolf in sheep's clothing (Norbert Hofer style): Moderate on the outside (public image), radical on the inside (actual policies).