BERLIN Reuters -Alice Weidel, the chancellor candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany AfD , is an unlikely public face for a male-dominated, anti-immigration party that depicts itself as a defender of traditional family values and ordinary people.
The year-old is raising two sons with a Sri Lankan-born woman, a filmmaker, and speaks fluent Mandarin, having done a doctorate in economics in China. A west German leading a party that is strongest in the former communist East, she worked for Goldman Sachs and Allianz Global Investors and as a freelance business consultant before entering politics.
Weidel's unusual profile, however, is precisely what makes her an asset to the AfD, say political analysts, lending a veneer of well-heeled liberal respectability to a party that is suspected by authorities of being antidemocratic. Typically sporting a dark suit, white shirt and pearls, she comes across as more poised and competent on various topics than some of her colleagues, they say.
Her critics call her a ruthless opportunist and a "wolf in sheep's clothing". As AfD co-leader, Weidel has overseen a surge in support for the party in recent years, benefiting from frustration with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's fractious coalition whose collapse is set to result in a Feb.
This is the first time the AfD has nominated a chancellor candidate and Weidel has already acknowledged it is unlikely to enter government for now, given other parties refuse to work with it. Weidel expects this firewall to crumble by the election as voters clearly want a right-wing coalition, she told German outlet Compact.
