The AfD party leadership: Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla.Image: keystone
At the beginning of the super election year with five state elections in Germany, allegations of nepotism are shaking the AfD. An overview.
02/18/2026, 09:1602/18/2026, 09:16
Research suggests that the AfD has set up an extensive system of nepotism. Top politicians from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) apparently employ family members of party friends at the taxpayer’s expense – in some highly paid positions in the Bundestag, for example t-online and other German media revealed at the beginning of February.
What exactly happened and what the turbulence now means for the super election year 2026 in Germany – an overview.
Nepotism affair shocks the AfD
An internal power struggle over the AfD Bundestag member Jan Wenzel Schmidt has brought to light a far-reaching nepotism affair.
Schmidt has long been considered controversial within the party leadership, among other things because of the awarding of mandates and lucrative positions during his time as general secretary. The state executive committee in Saxony-Anhalt then initiated party expulsion proceedings against him. It was said that Schmidt “could have abused his Bundestag mandate to obtain business advantages.”
The affair began with Jan Wenzel Schmidt.Image: IMAGO / dts news agency
When he was threatened with expulsion from the party, Schmidt announced that he would publish incriminating material about party colleagues – and did so. Research by several media outlets then confirmed: There is a significant amount of nepotism in the AfD.
This procedure is legal, but, as party leader Tino Chrupalla himself admitted in Caren Miosga’s broadcast, it has a “taste”. The MPs Act only prohibits the direct employment of spouses and one’s own relatives – however, the employment of relatives of other MPs is not expressly prohibited.
That’s how big the scale is
Perhaps half of the 151 AfD members of the Bundestag were directly or indirectly affected, the “Stern” quoted an estimate from the parliamentary group executive board. It is unclear where this number comes from.
At the beginning of the allegations were the Saxony-Anhalt regional association and its top candidate Ulrich Siegmund, whose father is said to have received more than 7,700 euros per month from such a job. But as further research turned out: numerous other AfD members employed relatives. Some examples:
- Tino Chrupalla, party and parliamentary group leader: He has been employing the wife of his party friend Roberto Kuhnert in his constituency in Saxony for almost ten years.
- Tobias Rausch, parliamentary director of the AfD parliamentary group in Saxony-Anhalt: Three of Rausch’s siblings are employed by Claudia Weiss, an AfD member of the Bundestag from Saxony-Anhalt. Rausch’s wife, the daughter of former state parliament member Mario Lehmann, works for the state parliamentary group, and a brother-in-law reportedly also works in the Bundestag. Weiss’s daughter, in turn, works for the state parliamentary group.
- Markus Frohnmaier, AfD top candidate: He is applying for the office of future Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg. His wife works as an office manager for Johann Martel, a member of the Bundestag from Baden-Württemberg.
- Marc Bernhard, Frohnmaier’s deputy in Baden-Württemberg, member of the Bundestag and construction policy spokesman for the parliamentary group: He employs the son of EU MP Anja Arndt.
- Matthias Moosdorf, member of the Saxon Bundestag: His wife has been working for the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag for several years – even when he himself did not yet have a mandate.
If nepotism to this extent were known in another German party, the AfD would probably criticize it sharply. Stern reporter Martin Debes argues this in the podcast “Ronzheimer”. The case does not fit into the narrative propagated by the AfD of corrupt elites, to which it includes other parties and from which it distinguishes itself as a supposedly “clean party”.
This is how the AfD justifies itself
Bernd Baumann, the first parliamentary director of the AfD parliamentary group, defends the practice of nepotism. The AfD is having problems finding staff “because the climate is poisoned,” Baumann said “World TV”. Applicants would be afraid to write the AfD as a station on their CV.
Bernd Baumann justifies employing relatives.Image: keystone
Of 200 possible positions, “we were unable to fill 71,” Baumann continued. It could therefore be that one or the other relied on trustworthy family members. That’s fine, legal – “and not as bad as at the CSU in 2013,” where almost 80 members of the state parliament had hired relatives. The affair resulted, among other things, in the resignation of the CSU parliamentary group leader.
However, the T-Online newspaper has figures that cast doubt on Baumann and Siegmund’s argument. They do not give the impression that the party, which claims to have 70,000 members, lacks staff in the state and federal government – on the contrary.
Also critical voices in the AfD
AfD co-party leader Tino Chrupalla initially did not want to comment on the talk show “Caren Miosga”. But when asked by Miosga, he admits: Hiring relatives has a “taste”. And Kay Gottschalk, federal executive board member of the AfD, should serve as a mediator in the power struggle. However, his attempt failed. Opposite the «Bild newspaper“said Gottschalk: “In the current situation, even the Pope wouldn’t be able to do it.”
The Thuringian state chairman Stefan Möller has opposed this “Star” called for stricter rules of conduct. “Our claim as the AfD has always been that we act cleaner than the other parties,” he said. Even if the jobs are legal, they pose a problem for credibility.
Thuringia’s AfD leader Björn Höcke also expressed criticism. He warned on X:
«We can only fail because of ourselves. But this failure enters the realm of possibility.”
Höcke knows that this scandal will probably not cause a major tremor among the loyal AfD voters, explains reporter Martin Debes at “Ronzheimer”. However, the AfD’s goal is to win even more voters in order to have a perspective of power in the super election year – which could fail due to this affair.
How dangerous is the scandal for the AfD in a super election year?
The scandal is a particular problem for the AfD, which has always promised to be different from other parties and, last but not least, has committed itself to the fight against perceived or actual “fellowship”. The leadership of the AfD federal association is said to be “massively worried”.
The fact that Saxony-Anhalt is at the center of the affair is unfavorable for the AfD, explains Debes. This is where the party has the most supporters. This means that the federal state is most likely to have a prime minister. This goal is now in danger.
It remains unclear what impact the scandal will have in the coming weeks. Compared to other parties, the AfD has a particularly stable electorate. In this context, the journalist Debes points to parallels with Donald Trump: Populist politicians often get away with behavior that they sharply criticize from political opponents.
(With material from T-Online)