The CSU harshly rejected the AfD’s demand to nominate a vice-president in the state parliament following its increase in votes in Sunday’s election. Prime Minister Markus Söder said on Tuesday: “A party that is monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution cannot take on a constitutional office, quite simply.” Söder, who spoke here on parliamentary matters, is also a member of parliament. The newly elected CSU parliamentary group leader Klaus Holetschek, former health minister, said that the discussion would be “useless” as long as there was no demarcation from radical theses and people like Björn Höcke. This “brown swamp” is also swirling in the AfD’s state parliamentary group. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution wants to use monitoring since 2022 to clarify what influence extremist currents have within the AfD. An urgent application by the party against this was recently rejected by the court.
The day after the state election, AfD lead candidate Martin Böhm derived the right to nominate a vice president in the future from his status as the strongest opposition force. Time will “tell whether the cartel parties continue to dare to exclude the AfD undemocratically.”
According to the rules of procedure, each party in the state parliament occupies a position in the presidium; this involves chairing meetings, organizing in the House of Representatives and representing democracy to the outside world. The AfD has nominated candidates for this a good dozen times since 2018. But no one had ever found a majority in the plenary session. It is part of the free mandate that MPs can refuse consent; a reason is not necessary. According to Söder and Holetschek’s statement on Tuesday, the CSU parliamentary group is likely to continue to do so when the state parliament is constituted on October 30th. The Free Voters had also taken a clear position over the five years; this is to be expected from the Greens and SPD anyway. AfD man Böhm, who is also deputy state leader, told the SZ on Tuesday: “The game continues as it left off: extremely undemocratic.” Söder’s statement is an “insult” to the almost 15 percent of people in Bavaria who voted for the AfD.