Status: 07/30/2021 6:55 p.m.
The Greens in Saarland suffered a severe setback: the state election committee rejected their list for the federal election – the party announced a complaint. The establishment of the Bremen AfD was also rejected.
The state election committee in Saarland has rejected the state list of the Greens for the federal election. The reason given was that delegates had been excluded from the assembly meeting in mid-July. This was a serious mistake and violated the principle of democracy, said the state election committee.
The Saarland Greens want to challenge the decision. “In any case, a complaint will be submitted,” said the provisional country manager Nadja Doberstein of the dpa news agency. After a complaint, the federal electoral committee has to decide on the admission of the list. That could happen on August 5th. “I assume that all of this will still last,” said Doberstein.
Green members asked for an examination
The Saar-Greens did not re-establish their list until July 17th after violent quarrels as a result of the election of ex-state chief Hubert Ulrich as the top candidate. They had also chosen Jeanne Dillschneider as their new boss.
However, 49 delegates from Ulrich’s Saarlouis local association were excluded from the decision on the new list by the Federal Arbitration Court of the Greens. The reason: The party court had previously found irregularities in the election of the delegates in the local association. They make up around a third of the Green members who are entitled to vote. Several Green delegates from Saarlouis had turned to the state election officer after their expulsion and asked to examine the processes.
No affidavit with Bremen’s AfD
The Bremen state electoral committee, in turn, did not allow the state list of the AfD to participate in the federal election. After a meeting of the committee, the regional election management announced that the party’s election proposals did not comply with the legal requirements.
According to a spokeswoman for the state election management, an AfD representative refused to give the election committee the obligatory affidavit that the AfD lists would be drawn up in accordance with the electoral law. Among other things, the woman had acted as secretary during the party’s assembly meeting.
This means that approval of the state list is excluded. The Bremen AfD now has three days to appeal against the decision to the Federal Returning Officer.
19 unsuccessful complaints
54 parties can take part in the federal election on September 26, as announced by the Federal Returning Officer in Wiesbaden. This takes into account the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on Tuesday, according to which the German Communist Party (DKP) must also be allowed to vote, contrary to an earlier decision by the Federal Electoral Committee.
At the beginning of July, the election committee initially allowed 53 parties to vote. As a result, 20 parties lodged complaints with the Federal Constitutional Court against their non-recognition. However, 19 of these proceedings were unsuccessful.