In Lower Saxony, the official treatment of an Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) candidate who intends to run in the September local elections has led to controversy.
A scandal is brewing after the election commission refused to approve AfD politician Reinhild Goes as a mayoral candidate, prompting a constitutional review.
In line with normal procedure, candidates for the municipal elections are currently being examined by the election commissions. Several media outlets have reported that local AfD politician Reinhild Goes has already been banned from running for mayor in Nörten-Hardenberg. However, the municipality says this report is incomplete: a spokesperson for the municipality told Apollo News that the election commission has not yet made a final decision on Goes’ candidacy.
Although the committee voted against the immediate approval of the AfD candidate, it unanimously decided to entrust the Northeim district’s municipal supervisory authority with reviewing her constitutionality. A decision on the candidacy is expected by July 29.
This stems from a new regulation in Lower Saxony’s local election law, which the Social Democrats and the Greens only passed in April. It allows election committees to review the constitutionality of mayoral and district administrator candidates. This could lead to the rejection of the nomination, which has already happened in at least one case. Several AfD politicians in Lower Saxony have stated that their constitutionality is currently being examined as part of the approval process.
According to Anke Bottek, the municipal election officer
It is noteworthy that the municipal election office had already examined Goes’ candidacy before, but did not find sufficient grounds to involve the municipal supervisory authority. It pointed out that refusing admission should only be considered as a last resort, and if there are doubts, admission should be decided in favor of admission.
Once again it appears that free and fair elections are being sacrificed to the ‘firewall’ designed to exclude populist and sovereigntist parties from all levels of German government.
