AfD politician Krah is a direct candidate for the Bundestag

The AfD MEP Maximilian Krah is getting serious about his plans to enter the Bundestag: in Rochlitz, Saxony, the Dresden native was nominated as a direct candidate for the upcoming Bundestag elections on Wednesday evening, as confirmed by the AfD. "Zeit Online" and "Sächsische Zeitung" had reported on this. Accordingly, Krah is running in the Bundestag constituency Chemnitzer Umland - Erzgebirgskreis II.

This is also the constituency of CDU politician Marco Wanderwitz, who is at the forefront of the Bundestag politicians campaigning for an AfD ban. Wanderwitz is no longer standing for the next Bundestag. He had justified this with increasing hostility towards himself.

Krah: Our ancestors were not criminals

Krah himself thanked "the AfD members in the Chemnitz region/Süderzgebirge for their trust in choosing me as their direct candidate for the Bundestag elections" on Platform X. The election campaign starts today!" "Zeit Online" also published videos of Krah's speech from the campaign event in Rochlitz. "We want to respect our parents, we want to honor our ancestors. They were not criminals. And we are proud Saxons and Germans," he said.

Krah also controversial in the AfD

The plans of the politician, who is also controversial in the AfD, to move from Brussels to Berlin had been known for some time. He had said in the newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" that the battle situation had changed because he had not been included in the AfD delegation in the EU Parliament and in the joint far-right group with other European parties.

Weeks of negative headlines in the European election campaign

Krah was only re-elected to the EU Parliament in June. Prior to this, he had been in the headlines for weeks, leaving AfD leaders in need of an explanation. The background to this were some shrill public appearances and reports about suspected links to Russia and China as well as investigations into an ex-employee for alleged espionage for China. In an Italian newspaper, Krah had also made statements about the National Socialist SS that were perceived as relativizing. The new AfD delegation did not accept the Saxon into its ranks after the election, nor does he belong to the far-right parliamentary group that the AfD had formed.