Two SPD city councilors in the Lower Bavarian town of Rottenburg an der Laaber, the hometown of Bavaria’s Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger, have announced that they are leaving the party. Angelika Wimmer and Peter Bauer want to join the Free Voters faction. This was confirmed by the first mayor of the city of RottenburgAlfred Holzner (Free Voters), the Bavarian Radio.
First they had Landshut newspaper reported about it. Accordingly, the two city councilors were “disappointed” by the SPD’s behavior in the Aiwanger leaflet affair. “The SZ article was published on Friday, and on Saturday Esken called for his resignation,” criticizes City Councilor Bauer in an interview with the Landshut newspaper the SPD party leader.
The Southgerman newspaper had reported at the end of August that a right-wing extremist pamphlet had been found in Aiwanger’s school bag at the end of the 1980s and that he had been punished as the author by his school’s disciplinary committee. Aiwanger also admitted this; his brother identified himself as the alleged author of the leaflet after the research was published. Aiwanger accuses the SZ of running a campaign against him.
According to several sources, Wimmer and Bauer have known and appreciated Aiwanger for years. By leaving the party, Wimmer loses her position as chairwoman of the SPD local association in Rottenburg an der Laaber. The two loudly want to resign their mandates Landshut newspaper However not. Accordingly, Wimmer initially considered remaining non-affiliated, but then saw better opportunities in a large faction. Bauer also feels “in good hands with the Free Voters.”