internal disputes
Bremen electoral committee rejects two AfD lists – party excluded from state elections
Frank Magnitz, chairman of the AfD in Bremen
© Carmen Jaspersen / DPA
In Bremen, the AfD tripped itself up: the emergency and state executives each submitted their own list for the state elections and did not withdraw it. Now there are consequences.
The Bremen electoral committee rejected two competing election lists submitted by the AfD for the May 14th state election. That was the result of the decisive vote by the committee on Friday in the Hanseatic city. This means that the AfD cannot be elected in the Bremen constituency, but complaints to the state electoral committee are still possible.
Submitting two lists for one party is prohibited by the electoral law. As electoral committee leader Carola Janssen explained during the meeting, it is beyond the committee’s competence to clarify which of the lists submitted by different executive committees had been submitted by the party members ultimately authorized to represent them. This would also be a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed party autonomy.
AfD Bremen at odds before state elections
The Bremen AfD is deeply divided and split into two camps. There is a rump board and a self-appointed emergency board, which deny each other’s legitimacy. The emergency board relies on decisions of the state and federal arbitration court of the AfD. The rump board doubts the legality of these decisions and is supported by the federal association, which officially shares this attitude. Among other things, court proceedings are therefore ongoing.