Media reports - Palmer wants to run for the Free Voters Association
According to media reports, Tübingen's Lord Mayor Boris Palmer (non-party) intends to campaign for the Free Voters Association in the district of Tübingen in the local elections in Baden-Württemberg in June next year. According to the reports, the 51-year-old is to become active for the association's parliamentary group in the Tübingen district council. Palmer did not comment on this when asked. Instead, he referred to a press conference on Monday at the district administration office in Tübingen. The "Schwäbisches Tagblatt" newspaper first reported on this.
Thomas Hölsch, parliamentary group leader of the Free Voters Association in the district of Tübingen, told the newspaper: "It is part of our DNA to have non-partisan and locally active mayors in our ranks." Palmer "approached us" in early summer.
SWR also quoted Hölsch as saying: "I think he fits in well with our team". The Free Voters Association is independent of political parties and only committed to the local cause. "We also allow everyone to contribute their own ideas." In addition, there is no pressure to join a political group in the association - "everyone can decide according to their knowledge and conscience". The state association of the Free Voters of Baden-Württemberg is an association and not a party.
Palmer (51) has been Lord Mayor of Tübingen since 2007 and has repeatedly caused offense with his political statements. His statements on refugee policy, for example, have often caused controversy and he has also been accused of racism. However, his management during the coronavirus pandemic and his municipal environmental policy attracted nationwide attention and recognition.
In May of this year, the controversial politician resigned from the Green Party following a scandal over the use of the N-word at a migration conference in Frankfurt. His membership had previously been suspended due to other controversial statements.
The Free Voters Association (FWV) has nothing to do with the Free Voters party, Hölsch told the German Press Agency in the evening. The FWV had already been founded in the 1950s. After the Federal Association of Free Voters was constituted in 2010, the FWV wanted to have the name "Freie Wähler" protected because it feared a possible risk of confusion as harmful to itself. However, the Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court ruled against this in 2010. As a result, the Federal Association of Free Voters was allowed to continue using the term "Freie Wähler" in the future.
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Source: www.stern.de
