The far-right Alternative for Germany party on Tuesday presented a member of former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union as its long-shot candidate to become the country’s next president, prompting his own party to call for him to leave or face possible expulsion.
Max Otte, a right-wing economist who was previously involved with a think-tank close to Alternative for Germany, last year became the head of the Werte-Union — a group that describes itself as representing conservative members of the center-right CDU but isn't formally linked to the party. CDU leaders have struggled in recent years to settle on an approach to the Werte-Union, which is politically marginal but has at times gained plenty of attention.
