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Alice Weidel: who is the AfD leader who doubled her support in Germany

The AfD co-leader celebrates her party’s historic victory in the 2025 elections

Alice Weidel, 46, celebrated what she called a ‘historic victory’ for Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which became the second most voted party in the 2025 elections in Germany with 20 per cent of support. ‘Our hand will always be outstretched to participate in government in order to implement the will of the people, the will of Germany,’ Weidel said, adding, ’We are ready to take responsibility for the country.’

Born in 1979 in Guetersloh, Alice Weidel is the first real candidate for the chancellery expressed by the AfD in its twelve-year history. In the previous federal elections in 2021, she and Tino Chrupalla were chosen as the party’s top couple. Growing up in Harsewinkel, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in a family of entrepreneurs, Weidel has two brothers and, after graduating, went on to study economics. He worked for Goldman Sachs and lived in China, where he also earned a doctorate with a thesis on the Chinese pension system.

She joined the AfD in 2013, driven by frustration with Eurozone policies, when the party was still mainly oriented towards Euroscepticism. In the past, Weidel had different positions from the more extreme wing of the party, represented by Bjoern Hoecke, leader of the AfD in Thuringia, with whom she had clashes. However, over time, he found common ground with the radical wing of the political formation.

During the election campaign, Weidel was able to count on the public support of Elon Musk, who supported her through his X platform (formerly Twitter). Currently, Alice Weidel lives between Germany and Switzerland, where she raises her two children together with her wife, thus confirming her image as a leader poised between tradition and modernity, able to unite a Eurosceptic and conservative political base with the support of global influencers such as Musk.

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