The decision of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district council not to accept a controversial AfD candidate as a replacement on the committee was unlawful. The lawyers in our own district office had already come to this assessment, and they also consulted the government of Upper Bavaria in view of this decision, which was unique in Bavaria. This has now come to the same conclusion. Now the district councilors are to vote again on the personnel at their next meeting on October 23rd.
The AfD candidate had previously attracted the attention of other local politicians through at least tasteless to offensive posts, but also through a number of inflammatory entries and political fantasies of violence on social media. Because two other AfD candidates with better election results had canceled, he should have replaced a party friend in the district council who had given up her mandate for health reasons.
The other district councilors had simply confirmed this withdrawal by resolution at their meeting in Mittenwald at the end of July. However, 39 members of the 60-member district council refused to make the legally necessary but also purely formal decision to accept the replacement from the AfD list in their place. There were only five pro votes, including that of District Administrator Anton Speer (FW). Some members were absent that day or avoided voting through short-term absences.
The mayor of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Elisabeth Koch (CSU), criticized the AfD man for several of his posts after the vote and sharply criticized them. The lawyer Koch points out that by saying no she was only exercising her free mandate and at the same time questions the meaning of such formal votes if one should not be able to vote no.
It is unclear how the district councils will vote on the second attempt on October 23rd. If they refuse to accept the AfD candidate again, the district office has announced that it will contact the government again and ask them for a decision. What seems more likely at the moment is that the district councilors, after giving their political signal in July, will inevitably accept the man. Many people want to avoid a court ruling in favor of the AfD. If the committee is not legally constituted, the validity of all decisions made in this way is also called into question. That’s why the district councilors pushed the vote on personnel to the end of their agenda in July.
The AfD is of the opinion that its candidate has not posted anything criminally relevant and should be accepted into the district council. The will of the voters must be accepted, said state chairman Stephan Protschka. However, the AfD has so far refrained from portraying itself as a victim of the other parties in the usual detail – perhaps in view of its candidate’s social media posts.