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Far-right AfD nominates first chancellor candidate

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Alice Weidel to lead party into Feb. 23 snap election

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AfD has surged in recent years to second place in polls

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Not seen entering coalition yet as other parties shun it

(Recasts with nomination of Weidel, adds quotes in paragraphs

4, 5 and 14)

By Sarah Marsh

BERLIN, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The far-right Alternative for

Germany (AfD) on Saturday nominated co-leader Alice Weidel as

its first chancellor candidate in the party's 11-year history,

setting out its bid for power ahead of a snap election due in

February.

The party is not likely to form part of a governing

coalition any time soon because other parties have ruled out

working with it, despite ranking second in opinion polls behind

the main opposition conservatives.

But a string of state electoral successes by the AfD are

increasing pressure on the conservatives in particular to drop

their firewall to the party and consider a right-wing coalition,

especially given the weakness of their erstwhile traditional

partner, the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP).

"We are the second-strongest force in the nationwide polls

and from this we derive our claim to govern, because we want to

do better, we want to bring Germany forward again, we want to be

at the top of the world again," Weidel told reporters in Berlin

from a stage adorned with two large German flags.

"Voters clearly want a coalition of conservatives and the

AfD," she said.

Far-right parties have gained traction across Europe in

recent years, also coming to power in Italy, Sweden, the

Netherlands and Finland.

Nominating a candidate could allow the AfD to boost its

media presence by participating in campaign debates, said Hans

Vorlaender, political scientist at Dresden's Technical

University.

Long dismissed as a protest party, the AfD is also seeking

to establish itself more as a "normal party", said Stefan

Marschall, political scientist at the University of Duesseldorf.

Weidel, 45, who has co-led the party since 2022, is an

unlikely public face for a male-dominated, anti-immigration

party that depicts itself as a defender of traditional family

values and ordinary German working people.

TAPPING INTO VOTER WORRIES

She is raising two sons with a Sri Lankan-born, Swiss woman

and speaks fluent Mandarin, having done her PhD in economics in

China. Before entering politics, she worked for Goldman Sachs ( GS )

and Allianz Global Investors and as a freelance business

consultant.

Weidel's unusual profile, however, is precisely what makes

her an asset to the AfD, according to political analysts who say

she could have greater appeal among more moderate Germans who

would normally shun a far-right party.

In recent years the AfD has tapped into voter worries about

high levels of immigration, a possible escalation of the Ukraine

war and the crisis of Germany's economic model as well as

frustration with infighting in the ruling coalition, which fell

apart last month.

"Germany is in one of the worst crises of its history," said

Weidel, promising a turnaround with the AfD.

The party wants to sharply curb immigration, particularly

from Muslim countries, turn nuclear power plants back on, exit

the European Union - unless it carries out major reforms - and

end arms deliveries to Ukraine.

Despite being suspected by authorities of pursuing

anti-democratic goals, the AfD has earned credibility with some

voters for openly addressing hot-button topics before mainstream

parties did.

The party came first in two state elections in September,

despite mass anti-AfD protests and a string of scandals which

included a senior figure declaring that the SS, the Nazis' main

paramilitary force, were "not all criminals".

A survey by pollster Wahlen published on Friday put the AfD

on 17%, behind the conservatives on 33%, but ahead of the SPD on

15% and the Greens on 14%. The conservatives, the SPD and Greens

all have chancellor candidates.

AfD membership has swelled by 50% to about 50,600 over the

past year, the party's spokesperson said, though that number

represents a fraction (some 14%) of the membership of Germany's

biggest parties, the CDU/CSU conservative bloc and the SPD.