Parties - AfD wants chairmanship of local parliaments with strongest force
The AfD demands the chairmanship in all Brandenburg municipal parliaments where they came first in the municipal election. "In 16 out of 18 districts and free cities, the AfD is the strongest force," said AfD fraction leader and candidate for chairman Hans-Christoph Berndt in Potsdam. So far, however, the AfD has not held the chair in any district council or city council of a free city. "That is group-related hostility, which we see there," Berndt said, referring to exclusion.
AfD representatives had run for the chair in several, but not all, district councils and city councils of free cities. The Brandenburg Constitutional Protection Office classifies the AfD state association as a suspected right-wing extremist organization.
The AfD holds the chair in the Drebkau city council
The AfD received a majority in almost all district councils and city councils of free cities in the June election, except in Potsdam, where the SPD came first, and in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, where the CDU did. In the Spree-Neiße district, the AfD is the strongest statewide with around 38 percent. The Spree-Neiße district council re-elected its previous chairman Torsten Schüler from the FDP, while AfD politician Daniel Münschke lost.
In the town of Drebkau in the Spree-Neiße district with around 5,500 inhabitants, an AfD politician was elected to the chair. Dietmar Serb was elected chairman of the city council on Monday, receiving ten out of eighteen votes, according to the city's announcement. That shows that it is still possible, said the parliamentary business manager of the AfD state parliamentary fraction, Dennis Hohloch.
Serb's deputy is Angela Krohn (OTB), and his second deputy is also an AfD politician, René Beckmann. In Drebkau, however, the Alliance for Drebkau (OTB) received the highest number of votes in the municipal election with 30.5 percent, while the AfD received 29.1 percent. The AfD and OTB each have five seats in the city parliament.
- Despite the AfD's strong performance in the local elections in Brandenburg, they have not held the chair in any district council or city council of a free city, except for Drebkau in the Spree-Neiße district.
- In Drebkau, an AfD politician, Dietmar Serb, was elected as the chairman of the city council with ten out of eighteen votes, showing that it is still possible for the AfD to gain significant positions in local politics.
- The AfD's demand for the chairmanship in all Brandenburg municipal parliaments where they came first in the municipal election follows their success in the June election, where they received a majority in almost all districts and city councils of free cities, except in Potsdam and Potsdam-Mittelmark.
- Hans-Christoph Berndt, the AfD fraction leader and candidate for chairman, expressed concerns about group-related hostility that the AfD has experienced in not being able to hold the chair in any district or city council, despite their strong performance in local elections.
- The Spree-Neiße district, where the AfD is the strongest statewide with around 38 percent, saw its district council re-elect its previous chairman Torsten Schüler from the FDP, while AfD politician Daniel Münschke lost, despite the AfD's strong showing in the June election.
