The “congratulations from the House of Lords” will be given in the state parliament on Thursday morning. President Ilse Aigner welcomes a new member of parliament without naming the parliamentary group: Oskar Atzinger, AfD district councilor in Passau, is replacing the deceased Josef Seidl. Atzinger is in the official state parliament directory – last employed dentist by profession, where according to him Passau New Press was dismissed because the corona vaccination was rejected – as non-attached. What’s going on there? As a reminder: There have already been four resignations from the parliamentary group since 2018, most recently Atzinger’s predecessor Seidl, there are currently 18 MPs instead of 22. Stunk again, so that the newcomer is not even accepted?
A first suspicion would go smoothly in the direction that nothing would come as a surprise to the AfD with its constant turbulence: Atzinger should be closer to the former group leader around Katrin Ebner-Steiner? Christian Klingen and Ulrich Singer have been at the helm since autumn, with a narrow majority, their camp defined itself as more moderate. A man on the other side would be inconvenient? No, according to the group. A spokesman said on request that the current situation was caused by obstacles in the statutes, which would be repaired as quickly as possible “in order to be able to formally include Mr. Atzinger in the parliamentary group”. Meanwhile, he can attend all meetings.
Unlike usual, such an admission is not a sure-fire success for the AfD, it requires a three-quarters majority according to the statutes. The high hurdle was created because one seriously expected defectors from the CSU and did not want to catch spies. According to information from the SZ, twelve MPs voted for Atzinger in a vote – not the necessary 75 percent. There were also negative and invalid votes. Individuals may be critical of the fact that Atzinger could be a troublemaker. In any case, he was expelled from the Republicans, for whom he was a district administrator candidate in Passau in 2008, after a variety of gossip to the point of alleged fisticuffs. At the same time, resentment is circulating among the Lower Bavarian AfD base as to whether there is more behind the fact that a majority was not achieved right away: money is going to waste, Atzinger’s voters are being snubbed. Everything will show up – if the statutes are changed.