The far-right Alternative for Germany's (AfD) delegation in the European Parliament will be led by René Aust, newly elected AfD politicians decided on Monday.
The decision comes after the faction voted eight members to four to expel Maximilian Krah from their delegation. Krah had been the AfD's lead candidate in the European Parliament election, but was banned from campaigning by the party in the run-up to the vote.
Aust is the deputy leader of the state-level AfD in the central German state of Thuringia.
Krah has been battered by several scandals, including allegations of accepting funds from Russia and China. A former top aide to Krah was separately arrested on allegations of having spied for China.
Krah also made highly controversial remarks to an Italian newspaper in which he said that members of the notorious Nazi SS paramilitary were not all criminals.
AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel announced the decisions in Berlin on Monday, just hours after election results showed the AfD gaining seats and placing second nationwide with 15.9% of the vote.
Krah is still expected to take a seat in the European Parliament, and is still a member of the AfD, but will be excluded from the AfD delegation.
Unlike Krah, the AfD's number two candidate on the election list, Petr Bystron, will be part of the AfD's delegation in Brussels despite also facing allegations of foreign influence.
Bystron has been linked to a pro-Russian propaganda outlet and, according to a Czech newspaper report, was allegedly captured on audio recordings accepting cash from sources with Kremlin ties.
Bystron strenuously denied the accusations and, according to AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla, he gave a sworn statement to his new colleagues on Monday that he had not accepted money and that the allegations against him are all false.
Excluding Krah from the AfD delegation may be part of an effort to patch things up with other far-right parties in the European Parliament that form the ID bloc, including French politician Marine Le Pen's right-wing populist National Rally.