Constitutional Court - Court rules on AfD lawsuit regarding council membership
The Bavarian Constitutional Court will announce its decision today on whether the seven-member parliamentary control committee in the Bavarian Parliament was lawfully formed without the AfD or not. The question is particularly tricky as the control committee oversees the Bavarian Constitutional Protection - and the AfD is also monitored by this as a whole in Bavaria.
In the proceedings, it concerns the previous legislative period. The AfD had proposed candidates for the committee who all failed to gain a majority in secret elections in the parliament. The AfD therefore argues that its rights to formal equal opportunities and effective opposition work are being infringed upon. The control committee should be mirrored like the parliament itself.
The representatives of the parliament argued in court that access to the committee should be regulated through an election. And this one was secret. In addition, an MP is free and answerable to no one for a voting decision.
First lawsuit was unsuccessful
The Constitutional Court had already rejected the AfD's first lawsuit regarding their non-election to the committee in summer 2021 due to inadmissibility. The party then filed a subsequent lawsuit - the decision on which is now being made.
In the current legislative period, all AfD candidates have failed so far in their attempts to be elected to the parliamentary presidium or the control committee. In some cases, they even received fewer votes than AfD politicians present. The AfD is also monitored as a whole in Bavaria by the Constitutional Protection.
Another decision to be announced this morning
The Constitutional Court will also announce a decision this morning on an AfD lawsuit against the budget arrangement 2022. It concerns a resolution recommendation of the Ministry of Economics to the Office of the Finance Committee in the Landtag, in which the AfD's amendment proposals were taken into account. The AfD argues that this violates the parliamentary rules of procedure and the neutrality requirement and has hindered its participation rights as MPs and as a fraction in the budget determination.
The Bavarian Constitutional Court, located in Munich, is set to announce its decision today on the AfD's challenge against the formation of the parliamentary control committee in Bavaria's State Parliament, asserting they were unfairly excluded. In the court process, the AfD contends that their rights to equal opportunities and effective opposition work are being curtailed, as the control committee oversees the Constitutional Protection, which also monitors the AfD in Bavaria. Previously, the Constitutional Court had dismissed the party's initial lawsuit on this matter due to inadmissibility in 2021.
