BERLIN — The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was hit by infighting yesterday just hours after winning its first seats in Parliament, with its co-chief Frauke Petry declaring that she will not join its Lower House group.

Citing “dissent” with more hardline colleagues, Ms Petry dropped her bombshell at a morning party press conference, catching other key AfD figures by surprise as she abruptly left the room.

The spectacle played out before the media put the spotlight on the tug-of-war within the party between the radical and more moderate forces at the top, and raised questions on how far right it planned to position itself.

Although its beginnings as an anti-euro party were rooted in populism, the AfD’s rhetoric veered further right in the run-up to Sunday’s elections.

Key members challenged Germany’s culture of atonement over World War II and the slaughter of six million Jews in the Holocaust.

It also rolled out provocative posters declaring “Burkas? We prefer bikinis” and “New Germans? Let’s make them ourselves”, featuring a heavily pregnant white woman, to push its Islamophobic and anti-migrant campaign.

The party had a stark message for Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday. “We will hound her. We’ll get our country and our people back,” AfD key candidate Alexander Gauland told supporters to wild applause at a post-election celebration in a Berlin nightclub.

Outraged mainstream politicians have heaped on criticism on the far-right party, including Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel who had labelled leaders of the party “real Nazis”.

Hundreds of protesters rallied outside, shouting “Nazis out!” while smaller AfD demonstrations were held in other cities across the country.

But even Ms Petry herself had openly criticised one of her party’s two key candidates, Mr Gauland over his claim that Germany should be proud of its war veterans, saying that would lead voters to shun the party.

Yesterday, seated next to Mr Gauland, she declared that “there is dissent in the AfD over the issues”.

“I decided after careful reflection that I will not sit with the (AfD) parliamentary group” in the Bundestag, said Ms Petry, who added she will serve as an independent lawmaker.

Hours later, four AfD local lawmakers said they were leaving party ranks and forming their own group in the state Parliament of Mecklenburg-Pomerania.

The open squabbling put a damper on the party’s success, and pointed to a potentially rocky future for the party in Parliament.

But for now, AfD can bask in the fact that it has become Germany’s third biggest political force with 12.6 per cent of the vote.

It did particularly well in the former communist east Germany, where it won 22.9 per cent of the vote — up 17 points from the last election in 2013, according to projections. In the west it won 11.3 per cent, up 6.8 points from back then.

Although all established parties refuse to work with the AfD, its forecast 87 parliamentary seats mean it will now have a voice in the Lower House of Europe’s richest country and become eligible for government funding tied to the size of its vote.

Mr Gauland, who had also come under fire from Ms Petry over his vow to “go after” Mrs Merkel and her government, stood firm on his tone.

“No one would be surprised in the British Parliament if someone said they would go after the government,” he said, adding that “of course one must go after a government, go after it in a parliamentary debate”.

Analysts said breaching taboos over German identity could well become the norm in the Bundestag with dozens of AfD lawmakers seated on the opposition benches.

But the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung cautioned against just dismissing the AfD as extremists.

“Nazi smears against the AfD are cheap — dealing with them in Parliament will require a great deal more energy and imagination,” it said.

“The other parties must distance themselves from the AfD while endeavouring from day one to win back voters from the AfD,” it said, adding that “this is a serious test for German democracy”. AGENCIES