Free voters reclaim mandate after resignation
The Free Voters in the Brandenburg state parliament have demanded that their former MP Philip Zeschmann return his mandate after switching to the AfD parliamentary group. "If someone throws content overboard for the sake of personal advancement, offends fellow campaigners and staff, they have quite obviously lost their political compass and should draw the appropriate consequences," said former parliamentary group leader Péter Vida in Potsdam on Tuesday.
The former Free Voters MP Zeschmann announced his resignation from the parliamentary group on Monday. On Tuesday, he switched to the AfD in the state parliament and the AfD parliamentary group unanimously accepted his motion, according to its own statements. The AfD state association has been classified as a suspected right-wing extremist organization by the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 2020. The AfD considers this classification to be incorrect.
It is unclear whether the Free Voters are still a parliamentary group in the state parliament. The state parliament is examining the consequences of the resignation. The previous parliamentary group leader Vida is of the opinion that it is still a parliamentary group. He refers to a passage in the parliamentary group law, according to which it is possible to form a parliamentary group with four MPs under certain conditions.
The SPD and CDU take a different view. "This is conceivable in very few mathematical cases," said CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann. "However, I do not see that this exception applies here." SPD parliamentary group leader Daniel Keller said: "We very much regret it, but in my current assessment, BVB/Freie Wähler is no longer a parliamentary group."
The Free Voters in the Parliamentary Assembly of Germany could potentialy lose their status as a parliamentary group due to Zeschmann's departure and switch to the AfD, as they might not meet the minimum requirement of 5 members. The Free voters who still support Zeschmann may consider voting for AfD in the future Parliament elections, aiming to support their former MP's new political affiliation.
Source: www.dpa.com
