Frauke Petry behind 'Blue party'?

Frauke Petry, who left the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) shortly after the national elections that took place on September 24, has apparently founded a new party called "Die Blaue Partei" ("Blue party").

German public broadcaster MDR and German Daily Bild  report that Petry's advisor Michael Muster was the one who registered the party. Muster is married to Kirsten Muster, an MP from the eastern state of Saxony, who has also recently turned her back on the AfD.

A spokesman for Germany's Federal Returning Officer, who is responsible for managing elections, confirmed the party had been registered ahead of the federal elections on September 17, but did not disclose any names.

Petry not commenting

Petry has kept mum about her alleged involvement. Her Twitter and Facebook accounts still simply describe her as "free and conservative." 

Read more: AfD accuses Petry of stealing party member data

On Twitter, she retweeted a comment by a German reporter who had joked about the party's name. He said that there'd always be enough to drink at the party, as "blue" can also mean being drunk in German.

She replied by saying that "it's nice to see you still have a sense of humor, you've kept it well-hidden so far."

Speculation about the new party surfaced in early October, when it became known that Petry had registered the e-mail address "dieblauen.de" ("the blues") with her husband, Marcus Pretzell, who has also left the AfD. Petry, however, insisted that the new party would not be called that.

Read more: The AfD is the new CSU - how the far-right won big in Bavaria

The AfD garnered 12.6 percent of the vote in the September 24 elections. It will enter the Bundestag for the first time, but no other party wants to go into coalition with them because of some of their far-right and populist views.