The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) elected a new leader on Saturday who pledged to follow a moderate course and appeal to middle-of-the-road voters as Germany’s largest protest party said it was preparing for power. 

Tino Chrupalla, a former house painter from the east German state of Saxony, told delegates at the AfD’s conference in Braunschweig that the party needed to drop the “drastic language” that has alienated mainstream conservatives and instead pursue a policy of “common sense”.

However, Mr Chrupalla would not have won the election without the support of a hardline nationalist group within the AfD known as the “Wing”, which is particularly strong in eastern Germany but has also been making inroads nationally.