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Apparently, in the fight for the maximum AfD candidacy, Alice Weidel and Jörg Meuthen are vying for influence in Baden-Württemberg. It is also about the possible exclusion from the party of a member of the far-right party.
By Sebastian Pittelkow, NDR and Katja Riedel, WDR
So far neither opponent has publicly said they want to bring the party to the Bundestag, but this has been heard throughout the party for months. Both belong to the same regional association. They both need your votes for more ambitions.
Two almost hostile camps have formed around Alice Weidel and Jörg Meuthen. Many of those who criticize the dissolution of the völkisch “wing” and the suspension of Andreas Kalbitz’s membership are grouped around Weidel. Her power base is mainly on the right of the party. Many others are in the Meuthen camp. While Meuthen has a clear majority behind him on the party’s federal executive board and has thus been able to enforce resolutions against “the far right,” other majorities apply in Baden-Württemberg, where Weidel is the head of state.
Meuthen speaks of concealment
Last weekend, party leader Meuthen made a cause at the Baden-Württemberg state board a top priority. The issue would have been significantly less important without the party’s now seemingly complete internal election campaign. In an angry letter, Meuthen criticized the fact that the Weidel-led state executive had deliberately delayed and delayed the possible exclusion of the Freiburg city council Dubravko Mandic.
The report required for this had long been ready and had even been available to him for weeks, although the state executive claimed the report was not ready yet. Meuthen talks about “watching over”, he feels “cheated”. Online magazine “Business Insider” published the party leader’s email shortly after Meuthen sent it on Saturday.
WDR and Ed other documents are available. They show the background to deep conflict and suggest that the Weidel-led state board may have delayed the report. According to this, the procedure should only be opened after a state party convention that includes a list for federal elections, a party congress in which Weidel would like to occupy the first place on the list and in which, due to difficult relations majority, needs all votes.
Dubravko Mandic provided
At first glance, it is the Dubravko Mandic case, a right-wing party that does not occupy an important position in the party, but has influence in the “wing”, which has now formally dissolved. Anyone who relies on a large, stable package of grand piano votes like Weidel shouldn’t befriend an expulsion proceeding against Mandic on this spectrum.
In the past, Mandic had repeatedly caused far-right outliers to make headlines. Sometimes he wanted journalists expelled from the newsrooms, sometimes he said that the AfD differed from the NPD “mainly because of our bourgeois supporters, not so much because of the content.” He recorded Meuthen’s personal resentment a few months ago when he posted a video on his Facebook page in which a coffin with Meuthen’s image and the inscription “RIP” was buried.
Meuthen, as can be read in the letter to the state boards in Baden-Württemberg, clearly sees behavior in this and other incidents that is repeatedly detrimental to the party and “unworthy of a civilized party.” In front of WDR and Ed confirmed the veracity of all emails I had written about it. However, at first he did not want to comment further. Mandic has yet to respond to a request regarding the possible party exclusion procedure (PAV) and the allegations made against him.
Expulsion procedure after a party congress?
The report in question, written by a former Bavarian senior prosecutor, and which WDR and Ed is available, it reaches a clear result: it sees Mandic as a “powerful exponent of a group that leaked into the party when it was founded, whose objectives are completely different from those established in the statutes and the AfD program … I would like to see the next super election year speak of an existential danger to the party, “writes expert Wolfram Schubert in an email.
In relation to Meuthen personally, he sees a “threat scenario” from Mandic. In reality, according to the appraiser, he should have submitted the completed report to the state executive on August 17. But then he got a call from a state executive who was assigned to Alice Weidel’s camp. The expert Schubert said that “the PAV will only start after the state party congress. I can and must leave my text as it is.”
The state board and the president of the state Weidel dispute at the request of WDR and Ed These allegations: “According to my information, a call with this content was not made,” Weidel writes.
Weidel is obviously urging us to hurry
At that state party congress, the places on the list for federal elections will be assigned, at an unusually early stage. The Weidel environment justifies this rush with the possible threat of a crown hardening for large concentrations.
Opponents of Weidel say they fear their donation affair, which has yet to be concluded, could turn into an unpleasant event for them in the fall. The Konstanz prosecutor has not yet decided whether charges will be brought against Weidel and other accused district boards of the Lake Constance district. The Bundestag administration has not yet made a final decision on a fine in the Weidel case, which could amount to around 400,000 euros.
State Executive vs. Party Leader
Internal critics of Weidel’s party suspect that the Mandic case is a strategic delay for election campaign reasons. A Baden-Württemberg politician who had suggested the expulsion of Mandic from the party informed Meuthen of the rejection of the report and sent him the draft of the document in question on 22 August.
Then Meuthen wanted to know from the state executive if the report in question was already available. Instead of a substantial response, an ever-increasing mail exchange developed. Meuthen’s request for a status report was finally rejected by state boards on September 3: “In view of the explosive nature of the entire process, I am very skeptical that we will provide information to the outside world before it is reached. a final judgment, “wrote the state manager. the party leader.
Also, the report is not yet available. In fact, apparently Meuthen had long since received it in a very advanced draft. This was apparently the reason why he chose a somewhat larger email distribution list last weekend and shared his anger with all the district boards in Baden-Württemberg. The events quickly ended in party chat groups and in public.
“No one was fooled”
Weidel now reacted to WDR and Ed: “The fact is that the legal department responsible for the state executive committee has only had one paper presented by the expert since Saturday, September 5, 2020 at 7:59 p.m. Therefore, third parties were able to have said document before the executive state and send it Not yet resolved. No one was deceived on this matter, “says Weidel.
For an objective review, it is helpful that elected board members can do their job in peace, “without being publicly covered with lurid suspicions.” On Tuesday, the state executive will discuss Mandic’s case, Weidel said.
