Photo: DPAGermany's anti-immigration AfD will wrap up a testy party congress Sunday by choosing the team to lead it into a September general election, after it dramatically sidelined its most prominent personality. "I will step aside during the campaign, as that's what the party congress apparently wants," Petry said, while pledging to remain party co-chairwoman "for now". Petry's chief rival, 76-year-old Alexander Gauland, a hardline defector from Merkel's CDU, had urged delegates to defeat her Realpolitik motion, calling it "divisive". But even Gauland, who was widely mentioned as a candidate to join the AfD campaign team, expressed regret that Petry, who is very popular with the party's base, will not be front-and-centre on the campaign trail. "The AfD is heading for a showdown that could end up breaking it apart," it said.

Source: The Local April 23, 2017 02:15 UTC