GERMANY-POLITICS-VOTE-PARTIES-AFD

(AFP) Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) paryt, speaks during a press conference on December 7, 2024 in Berlin, as she was officially nominated as the AfD's candidate for Chancellor at a snap election scheduled for February 2025. Founded in 2013 to oppose Germany's membership of the European Union, the AfD has seen its support gradually rise in recent years as it has seized on fears about migration and a stumbling economy -- especially in former East Germany.

The party is currently polling at around 18 percent in second place behind the conservatives, prompting it to name an official chancellor candidate for the first time. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)