Member of the state parliament in Bavaria
AfD board plans party expulsion proceedings against Halemba
Daniel Halemba sits for the AfD in the Bavarian state parliament. photo
© Peter Kneffel/dpa
The pressure on the controversial Bavarian AfD politician Daniel Halemba is increasing – and not just because of new allegations from the public prosecutor’s office. Now the party’s federal executive committee also wants to take action itself.
The AfD federal executive board is increasing the pressure on the controversial Bavarian state parliament member Daniel Halemba: He now wants to have a party exclusion process prepared himself, as the AfD federal office confirmed. Bayerischer Rundfunk had previously reported on the party leadership’s plan.
According to the report, the corresponding application should be submitted by next Monday. According to BR, the specific reasons are still open, and the AfD federal office did not say anything about it when asked.
Halemba is calm
When asked by the dpa, Halemba said he was calm about the proceedings. “In this context, it will be clarified beyond any doubt that the allegations are false claims made by a failed competitor,” he wrote. The state executive board has already determined this through legal reports. “I have already been sanctioned for the somewhat negligent acceptance of two new members.” After the process has been completed, he said, he looks forward to “continuing trusting cooperation with the Federal Executive Board again,” said the member of the state parliament.
The 22-year-old has been criticized for months. The public prosecutor’s office has been investigating suspicions of sedition for a long time, and allegations of money laundering, communal coercion and damage to property have now also been added, as the public prosecutor’s office confirmed last week. There are also allegations within the party, including that he is said to have violated the party’s statutes. Regarding the public prosecutor’s new allegations, Halemba said last Friday that he welcomed it “if the facts were clarified through objective investigations”: “I am firmly convinced that I have not committed a criminal offense.”
Two-year suspension from holding office within the party
At the end of last year, the AfD federal executive board called on the state executive board to initiate an exclusion process. The decision was justified by violations of the party’s rules, which would have led to the admission of members in violation of the statutes in the run-up to two assembly meetings for the state elections in Bavaria. Because of allegations of cheating in his favor when drawing up the list for the state elections, Halemba was then banned from holding office within the party for two years by the state executive board. At a state party conference, a majority of delegates also asked him to resign from his parliamentary mandate. However, this decision was not binding for Halemba – and the group supported him.
Because of the new allegations, a new discussion is expected in the group.