German nationalist party ends regional split after 3 months

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FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2016 file photo the AfD chairman Joerg Meuthen, left, and Heiner Merz attend a session of the state parliament in German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The German nationalist party has ended a dispute that split its parliamentary group in a state legislature and exposed divisions in its national leadership. (Silas Stein/dpa via AP)

BERLIN – A German nationalist party has ended a dispute that split its parliamentary group in a state legislature and exposed divisions in its national leadership.

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, said Tuesday its caucus in southwestern Baden-Wuerttemberg, one of five states where it won seats in elections this year amid discontent about Germany’s migrant influx, has reunited.

Its 22 lawmakers elected national co-chairman Joerg Meuthen as caucus leader, three months after he and 12 others walked out after failing to get the rest to oust a colleague accused of anti-Semitism. That lawmaker later left the caucus.

Meuthen and national co-leader Frauke Petry clashed over how to handle the dispute.

AfD said in a statement the split, during which Meuthen’s group operated as “Alternative for Baden-Wuerttemberg,” didn’t create extra costs to taxpayers.

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