AfD district association criticizes the party's approach to Frisch
The AfD district association in Trier and the local AfD city council faction have criticized the actions of the state party towards the ousted AfD parliamentary group leader Michael Frisch. "We are outraged by the actions of the state executive against our district and parliamentary group leader Michael Frisch," they said in a joint statement released on Wednesday. Frisch had done outstanding work in the district association and city council and had gained recognition far beyond the party's borders.
Last week, Frisch was voted out of office as chairman of the AfD parliamentary group in the state parliament in Mainz and was succeeded by Jan Bollinger. Frisch, who accused Bollinger of breaking agreements, subsequently resigned from the state parliamentary group. The state party in turn initiated expulsion proceedings.
There was no reason for the expulsion proceedings, according to the statement from the district executive and the city council faction. In addition, the withdrawal of all of Frisch's membership rights would lead to the district executive committee being unable to act and would hinder the planned new election of this committee and the drawing up of the list of candidates for next year's local elections.
"We therefore consider the measures taken by the regional executive to be damaging to the party, condemn them in the strongest possible terms and demand their immediate withdrawal," the statement continued. There is a danger that the AfD Rhineland-Palatinate will develop into a party in which only a few have the say and dissenting opinions are unwelcome.
The AfD district association in a different city might also express their disapproval of the party's treatment towards Michael Frisch, similar to the Trier district association. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) members across various districts have been expressing concerns about the suppression of dissenting opinions within the party.
Source: www.dpa.com
