AfD to patch split?

Meuthen, who fell out recently with his Alternative for Germany (AfD) federal co-leader, Frauke Petry, said Monday two factions in the southwestern state's parliament intended to hold reunification talks.

Meuthen (pictured above center) set up a rival faction, "Alternative for Baden-Württemberg," in early July after initially failing to persuade the AfD's existing parliamentary group to rid itself of Wolfgang Gedeon over allegations of propagating anti-Semitic thinking.

Regional state media reported Monday that three former constitutional judges appointed as assessors by the assembly had concluded that Meuthen and 13 objectors could exist as a second group alongside the remnant nine-member AfD grouping in Stuttgart's parliamentary chamber.

Meuthen reacted to those reports by telling the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that he was seeking a reunification, ahead of the AfD's federal party congress in Kassel in the state of Hesse on August 14.

The spokesman for AfD Baden Württemberg, Emil Sänze, told Reuters both factions would send negotiators to talks on Tuesday evening.

Since its formation nationwide, the AfD has tried to capitalize on unease among voters over Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition government, including its open-door stance on Middle Eastern and African migrants.

Gedeon, whose statements cast doubt on the Holocaust - a criminal offense in Germany - later resigned from the parliamentary group after talks with Petry.

Support for the AfD - once at 15 percent, which was even ahead of the ecologist Greens - recently fell below 10 percent. Currently, the AfD has seats in half of Germany's 16 state assemblies.

ipj/kms (AFP, dpa, Reuters, epd)