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AfD candidate for chair of the interior committee failed
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The controversial AfD candidate for the chairmanship of the Interior Committee, Martin Hess, apparently failed in the first ballot.
The Interior Committee of the Bundestag rejected Martin Hess, nominated by the AfD parliamentary group, as chairman by a large majority. This was reported by participants at the constituent meeting of the committee chaired by Bundestag Vice-President Wolfgang Kubicki on Wednesday. Previously – contrary to the usual procedure – it had been decided to decide on the chairmanship of the committee by secret ballot. The Interior Committee deals with questions of internal security, civil protection and asylum policy. The 50-year-old Hess comes from Baden-Württemberg and is a police officer.
There had previously also been a secret election in the Health Committee and in the Committee on Development Cooperation. In the health committee, the MP Jörg Schneider, nominated for the chairmanship of the AfD parliamentary group, fell through, as did the AfD MP Dietmar Friedhoff in the development committee.
A vote is possible if MPs object to the appeal. This was also the case in January 2018, for example, in the constituent meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee. The AfD MP Stephan Brandner received the necessary majority in a secret ballot. In November 2019, however, Brandner was recalled after MPs from other parliamentary groups had attested to him on the basis of statements on social media that he had neither the human nor the political aptitude for the chairmanship. By contrast, until the end of the legislative period, Peter Boehringer (AfD) headed the budget committee, which traditionally belongs to the strongest opposition faction.
If the person proposed for chairmanship is not elected in a committee, this will then be negotiated in the council of elders, the Bundestag administration announced on request.
More shortly at star.