By Madeline Chambers
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's anti-Islam PEGIDA group called on supporters on Wednesday to back a defector from the eurosceptic AfD party running for mayor of Dresden in PEGIDA's first shot at political office.
After drawing around 25,000 to weekly marches in the eastern city of Dresden at the height of its popularity in January, PEGIDA fell into disarray when leader Lutz Bachmann resigned after a photo of him posing as Hitler was published.
But following a bout of infighting, Bachmann is back and, at a 7,100-strong rally on Monday, he introduced Tatjana Festerling as PEGIDA's candidate for mayor of Dresden in a June vote.
"In Dresden we, the people (das Volk), will win," Festerling told the cheering audience, without going into policy details.
In a Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) message on Wednesday, PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) asked its supporters go to the Dresden authorities to provide the 240 signatures needed to allow her name to go on the ballot paper.
Festerling parted ways with AfD (Alternative for Germany) after expressing support for a demonstration in Cologne last year held under the slogan "Hooligans against Salafists".
Homing in on a 60 percent surge in asylum seekers in Germany last year, PEGIDA wants tighter immigration rules and more direct democracy. It has wooed supporters of the AfD, which has enjoyed electoral success in several eastern German states since adopting an overtly anti-immigrant message.
Although it is unlikely Festerling will win, it is the first direct foray into politics by PEGIDA, which has prided itself on being a grassroots movement.
PEGIDA hopes record numbers will attend a rally on Monday at which Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders is to address the crowd.
PEGIDA has faced large counter-demonstrations in Dresden and other cities and had only limited success in spreading to other countries, such as Britain and Austria.