The Bavarian AfD’s regional arbitration court has opened proceedings for party exclusion and immediate withdrawal of membership rights against state parliament member Daniel Halemba. AfD state leader Stephan Protschka confirmed this on Tuesday in response to a SZ request. The news portal previously had t online reported. Halemba is said to have cheated in the run-up to his candidacy for state parliament and thus violated the party statutes. Among other things, it involves fraud with fictitious residences for new AfD members, who are said to have helped Halemba become a candidate.
The party expulsion process is just the latest twist in the case. The 22-year-old has been in the spotlight since the Würzburg public prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant against the member of a right-wing fraternity at the end of October on suspicion of incitement. The arrest warrant was canceled last week, but the investigation continues. Halemba rejects the allegations.
The pressure within the party is also great. AfD federal leader Alice Weidel asked the MP to leave the party in December because of irregularities in his nomination of candidates. The Bavarian regional association recently decided at a party conference that Halemba should resign from his parliamentary mandate. But the politician held on to his seat and the AfD faction supported him. So far, Halemba has only been banned from holding party positions for two years.
So now the next chapter. If the party exclusion process opened by the state arbitration court is successful, the AfD would have to throw Halemba out and could lose its role as opposition leader in the state parliament to the Greens. But firstly, exclusion procedures can take years. And secondly, those responsible in the AfD are already questioning the process: State leader Protschka says that the request for exclusion was made by a Lower Franconian district association that no longer exists after a split. You have to check the validity carefully. When asked by SZ, Halemba himself said that he had not received a decision from the arbitration court. He therefore sees no reason to take a position on the proceedings.