- AfD's request to the Yeboah Committee of Inquiry rejected
The Saarland State Parliament's decision to staff the so-called Yeboah Inquiry Committee with three SPD and two CDU members does not infringe upon the rights of the AfD fraction. This was stated by the Constitutional Court in Saarbrücken. The AfD's application was "fully dismissed". The AfD had complained, among other things, about a lack of parliamentary participation rights. The Constitutional Court stated that the Saarland constitution does not grant fractions a claim to a basic mandate in an inquiry committee.
The composition of the committee with five members maintains the principle of proportionality, according to which every committee should be a miniature replica of the plenary. "Based on the specific seat distribution in the 17th Saarland State Parliament, with a committee size of five members, three regular members would fall to the SPD fraction and two to the CDU fraction, according to the constitutionally permissible calculation method of d'Hondt." The AfD is only entitled to an advisory membership.
The focus of the committee is the arson attack on an asylum seeker's home in Saarlouis in 1991, which caused nationwide attention. The 27-year-old Samuel Yeboah from Ghana died in the fire. The committee is to clarify, among other things, any shortcomings of the security authorities in the investigation after the attack. The SPD governs alone in Saarland and has 29 seats in the state parliament. The CDU has 19 seats, and the AfD has 3.
The decision to assign three SPD and two CDU members to the Yeboah Inquiry Committee was in line with the d'Hondt method, ensuring proportionality between the parties, specifically including the CDU as part of the committee. Despite having fewer seats in the Saarland State Parliament, the CDU, represented by the CDU, remains an essential part of the committee.
