Bavaria’s AfD has a new chairman: The state party conference voted on Saturday in the Franconian town of Greding for the Bundestag member Stephan Protschka. In the second attempt at the board election, the 43-year-old prevailed against the previous state chairman Corinna Miazga and his Bundestag colleague Martin Sichert. Protschka received 51.8 percent of the vote, Sichert 23.6 percent and Miazga 22.3 percent. The rest of those present said no to all three or abstained.
Protschka’s election was preceded by a stalemate in a first round of voting: First of all, the state parliament member Martin Böhm and Sichert applied for the chairmanship. Both were practically head to head, with Böhm also missing the necessary majority as the first place winner. As a result, the election of the board of directors had to be reopened – Böhm did not run again, but Protschka and Miazga entered the race alongside Sichert.
Protschka is already known in the AfD. In his application speech for the state chairmanship, the co-founder of the AfD district of Lower Bavaria called for unity. “I will do the best I can to turn the Bavarian AfD into a leading force,” said Protschka, who is said to be close to the former right-wing conservative wing in the party.
In Bavaria, too, the AfD had to accept significant voting losses in the federal election compared to the 2017 election. The AfD Bavaria is a deeply divided regional association and draws attention to itself again and again with personnel quarrels – for example in the state parliament. This has long had consequences for membership development. Since mid-2019, the number has fallen by more than 500 to 4500.
Protschka’s candidacy also caused criticism at the party congress. One party member described it as “incredibly embarrassing” that Protschka spoke publicly of “Negroes” and called the press scum. Protschka then declared that such statements were not forbidden, that he was not ashamed of them and would continue to say “Gypsy schnitzel”. At the end of 2014 Protschka spread extremist statements such as “Merkel is planning German genocide” and “The EU is not Europe, the EU is the Fourth Reich” on Twitter. In November 2019, he came under fire for donating money for a revisionist memorial for World War II soldiers and volunteer fighters in Poland.
“The fight against the Söder government is the central task of the AfD Bavaria”
Even before the election of the board of directors, the majority of the Bavarian AfD had spoken out in favor of supporting the controversial referendum “Landtag recalled”. “The fight against the Söder government is the central task of the AfD Bavaria,” it says in support of the relevant application. With the support of the referendum, the AfD underlined its will for direct citizen participation and the claim to be the decisive fundamental opposition party in Bavaria.
The two-week registration period in all town halls throughout Bavaria has been running since Thursday – the signatures of a million eligible voters would be required to reach the next level. If the quorum were reached, there would be a referendum – alternatively, the state parliament could take action on its own initiative beforehand.
The government places those responsible for the referendum in the “lateral thinker” scene. According to the authorities, at least one of them is in the sights of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. For example, Vice-Commissioner Karl Hilz from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is assigned to the collective observation object “Security-endangering anti-democratic efforts”.