Alice Weidel, a gay woman with a Sri Lankan partner, leads Germany's far-right AfD, which opposes same-sex marriage and champions traditional values. Her leadership has bolstered the AfD's support. Despite criticism for her anti-immigration stance and controversial views,

The leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, a conservative who has adopted many of the AfD’s hard-line positions on immigration, used his closing statement of the debate to promise his voters that he would never allow the AfD into his government. Under him, he said, the firewall would hold.

German far-right AfD leader Alice Weidel pledges to overtake conservative bloc, vows to win first place in next election.