The Bavarian AfD MP Daniel Halemba is once again threatened with expulsion from his party. The AfD federal executive board is preparing appropriate party exclusion proceedings against Halemba. Bayerischer Rundfunk first reported on this. In response to a request from the SZ, a party spokesman confirmed that the application should be ready for signature by the federal executive board next Monday. The possible exclusion process itself, with hearings and objections, is likely to take longer, up to two years. It was not initially known exactly what reasons the federal executive board wanted to put forward. This Wednesday, the parliamentary group in the state parliament will also be discussing Halemba, the allegations against him and possibly his future in the AfD.
The Würzburg public prosecutor’s office has long been investigating the 22-year-old MP, who has been sitting in parliament since October 2023, for alleged incitement to hatred and the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations; This is primarily about the discovery of right-wing extremist propaganda articles and National Socialist devotional items during a raid on the fraternity house of the Würzburg Teutonia fraternity, of which the AfD politician is a member. At the end of last week it was also announced that there were also investigations into suspected money laundering, coercion and damage to property. Halemba is said to have invested money from an acquaintance who runs a fake internet shop and received a commission for it. In addition, he is said to have threatened, among other things, a witness.
The public prosecutor’s office apparently wants to bring the cases together for prosecution. To this end, the MP’s immunity was initially revoked in the state parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee. This is precisely why it became known that the Halemba investigation file is even thicker than previously assumed.
There were also allegations against Halemba in connection with his election as a candidate for state parliament in Lower Franconia. He is said to have benefited from irregularities at assembly meetings, specifically the fake residences of AfD members who voted for him. This was not relevant under criminal law, but it caused the biggest waves within the AfD, which likes to present itself as a party of law and order. AfD federal chairwoman Alice Weidel said about these allegations in January: It was “completely clear” to the federal executive board that Halemba could not remain a member of the AfD. However, the Bavarian AfD did not promptly follow the requested initiation of party expulsion. The state executive committee led by Bundestag member Stephan Protschka had obtained legal opinions on the case and decided on milder measures – including a temporary ban for Halemba from holding party positions.
The hesitant approach at the Bavarian level at the time could now be the reason for the federal executive board to take the process of party exclusion into its own hands and not delegate it as before. In party circles, the allegations that have arisen – key word money laundering – are not necessarily considered to be the trigger for this step in Berlin; According to this, pressure from the party has been building up for some time to finally act. The original investigations into sedition ultimately play the most important role for comparatively moderate AfD members. Parts of the AfD fear that people like Halemba in their own ranks will provide “ammunition” for a possible party ban and scare away hoped-for middle-class voter potential.
Halemba himself announced on Friday after the further investigation became known that he was “firmly convinced that I had not committed a criminal offense.” If charges are brought, he is confident that the proceedings will be dropped or acquitted. Unfortunately, he said of the money laundering accusation, he had been “deceived by taking advantage of my good nature,” and he would pay any damages in full. The allegations and coercion lacked any substance. At the beginning of the week he also announced that he had filed a criminal complaint himself – against a public prosecutor and a criminal police officer for “communal coercion in office”. A co-accused of sedition, whom he is said to have coerced, denied this – and the man was in turn pressured into making a statement by threats during his interrogation.
At an AfD state party conference in Greding in January, Halemba was asked by a majority of the members present to resign his mandate; Here it was primarily about the schmooze in the nomination of candidates. However, Halemba did not comply with the party congress’s request, and there have so far been no consequences for any of the numerous allegations in the group. The AfD parliamentary group had actually already cleared up the Halemba issue. In light of the new investigations, parliamentary group leader Katrin Ebner-Steiner called for Halemba to be clarified as quickly and completely as possible: “If the allegations cannot be refuted, there will be severe consequences,” she told the SZ when asked. This Wednesday, Halemba should “explain” himself to the parliamentary group.
It was expected in faction circles that there would be dissatisfaction among colleagues in the group at a meeting in the late afternoon; However, not any kind of vote, for example on expulsion from the parliamentary group. In the 2023 state elections, the AfD was 0.2 percentage points ahead of the Greens. Since then, she has been opposition leader and is allowed to directly counter government statements made by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). The Greens and AfD have exactly the same number of mandates, 32. Even one seat lost – for example by leaving or being excluded from the party and parliamentary group, as is being discussed in the Halemba case – would send the opposition leadership to the Greens.