Last weekend, Germany's far-right lawmakers vowed to dress smartly, minimize parliamentary cat-calling, and signed up to a short manifesto notably omitting a call for repatriation of some immigrants that helped fuel their February election success.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is trying a tactical pivot away from the mix of attention-grabbing shock policies and provocative rowdiness that helped it become the second-largest parliamentary party, in a bid to go more mainstream and translate popularity into power, political commentators and a party insider said.
Being the largest opposition party has conferred privileges like being able to respond first to the government in parliament, but in Germany power comes from being in coalitions, and every other party rules out governing with the AfD.
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