Udo Voigt ˈuːdo ˈfoːkt is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 politician and former leader of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany

National Democratic Party of Germany

The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"...

 since 1996. He is a former aviation engineer and captain in the German army.

Political career

Since the last election in September 2006 Voigt is an elected member of the Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 municipal government in the Treptow-Köpenick

Treptow-Köpenick

Treptow-Köpenick is the ninth borough of Berlin, Germany, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Treptow and Köpenick.-Overview:...

 district. Previously he has been unsuccessful at the European Parliament elections

European Parliament election, 1994

The 1994 European Parliamentary Election was a European election held across the 12 European Union member states in June 1994.This election saw the merge of the European People's Party and European Democrats, an increase in the overall number of seats and a fall in overall turnout to...

 and when running for mayor of Saarbrücken

Saarbrücken

Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....

.

He joined the NPD, a fascist and nationalist party in 1968 and was elected as Chairman (German: Vorsitzender) in 1996, succeeding Günter Deckert

Günter Deckert

Günter Deckert is a far-right German political activist. He was the leader of the far right National Democratic Party of Germany . He has served five years in prison in Germany for various offences, including Holocaust denial and incitement to racial hatred...

 who had been arrested in 1995 and was in prison until 2000 for inciting racial hatred.

On March 13, 2008, Voigt was charged (for at least the second time in his life) with incitement (Volksverhetzung

Volksverhetzung

Volksverhetzung is a concept in German criminal law that bans the incitement of hatred against a segment of the population. It often applies in, though it is not limited to, trials relating to Holocaust denial in Germany...

) for distributing racially-charged pamphlets. In 2009 he was given a seven-month suspended sentence and ordered to donate 2,000 Euro to UNICEF. Voigt protested the charge, claiming it was politically motivated.

On November 13, 2011, Voigt was replaced as leader of the NPD by Holger Apfel

Holger Apfel

Holger Apfel is the leader of the right-extremist National Democratic Party of Germany and has served as a member of the Saxon Parliament since 2004...

.