Photo: DPAWith seven months until German elections, support for the right-wing populist AfD party has slipped from highs seen during the mass migrant influx to single digits in the polls, alarming its divided leadership. This week, the AfD leadership sent out a letter to their almost 27,000 rank-and-file members, urging unity after a surge of infighting sparked by right-wing member Björn Höcke. With the four-year-old party embroiled in civil war between its right and far-right wings, and Petry seeking to expel Höcke, the AfD urged members to "close ranks against the establishment parties". For a long time, "a double-digit result in the national elections seemed a given," wrote news site Spiegel Online. "The AfD is losing importance because many of their policies have been adopted," observed the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger daily.

Source: The Local February 28, 2017 15:45 UTC