Sawt Falasteen - Alice Weidel, unlikely queen of German far-right AfD

To her legions of political foes, Weidel serves as a "fig leaf" for a party that rails against asylum seekers, Islam and multiculturalism and some of whose top figures have voiced revisionist views on Germany's Nazi past.

On Sunday the 46-year-old, who says Margaret Thatcher is her political idol, looks set to propel the Moscow-friendly AfD to a record result, with polls predicting it will win second place at around 20 percent.

Ahead of the election, Weidel has basked in the vocal support of US President Donald Trump's key allies -- especially the tech billionaire Elon Musk -- as well as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Often sporting a pearl necklace and a trouser suit, she was the first AfD politician to be invited to a pre-election TV debate where she sparred with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his main rival, the conservative Friedrich Merz.

All of this has contributed to the "normalisation" of a party, said Der Spiegel magazine, after the AfD was long kept at arm's length by the majority of German voters, and protested against by thousands on the streets.

"Under Alice Weidel, the party has lost its horror for many voters, and Weidel's numerous TV appearances have accelerated the normalisation of the AfD," it said.

Weidel in January took part in a livestream on X with Musk, who has enthusiastically supported the AfD as the only party that can "save Germany".

In the meandering conversation, they railed against "woke" policies before chatting about Musk's plans to settle Mars and Germany's dark history, with Weidel insisting Hitler was a "communist".

- 'Uncrowned queen' -

In February, Weidel was invited to a private meeting with US Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Vance had boosted the AfD in a blistering speech there in which he called on Germany to drop its long-standing "firewall" that aims to isolate the AfD.

Seeking support from foreign right-wing leaders, Weidel also recently made an appearance in Budapest with Orban, who described her as "the future of Germany".

"This election campaign has made it clear that (Weidel) is the uncrowned queen of the AfD," said Wolfgang Schroeder, a politics professor at Kassel University.

"Her visibility has grown enormously. This has also given her more power within her own party."

Weidel was born and educated in western Germany, making her an oddity in the AfD, whose core voter base is in the country's formerly communist east.

She later lived in China, working at Bank of China, before moving on to Goldman Sachs.

Weidel first joined the AfD in 2013, the year it was founded. Unlike many other early members who quit as it became more overtly xenophobic, she stayed.

Weidel represents a wing of the AfD that "aspires to an independent existence to the right of the conservatives, with the possibility of forming a coalition", said Schroeder.

As a West German and a gay woman, Weidel has had "some problems connecting with the ideology of her party", said political scientist Anna-Sophie Heinze from Trier University.

- 'Remigration' -

Der Spiegel said Weidel is "the perfect fig leaf" for the party, which is considered by Germany's domestic security service to be right-wing extremist in parts.

"If someone accuses the AfD of being misogynistic, homophobic or racist, they can say they have Weidel, so the AfD cannot be all of those things, even though it is," the magazine said.

While Weidel has never hidden her relationship with her partner, with whom she is raising two sons, she has distanced herself from the broader LGBTQ movement.

At a party conference in January, she rejected accusations that she has failed to engage with the movement, charging that her critics "have no idea at all about the reality of my life".

"And I must honestly say that I will not tolerate any interference in my life or my family," she said.

Despite presenting a more moderate face for the far-right party, Weidel has not shied away from some of its most radical positions when firing up party members.

At the AfD congress, Weidel vowed that a government that includes the AfD would force the "total closing of Germany's borders" as well as "large-scale repatriations".

"I say to you quite honestly, if this must be called remigration, then let it be called remigration."

Y.Zaher--SF-PST