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The election of an AfD politician as chairman of the city council of Gera, Thuringia, has drawn much criticism and reinvigorated the debate on how to deal with the party in municipalities. After Reinhard Etzrodt was elected by secret ballot with 23 out of 40 votes Thursday night, Thuringian state politicians and various civil society groups commented on the result with concern.
The chairman of the board of the mobile council against right-wing extremism, Sandro Witt, accused the municipalities of Thuringia’s third-largest city of having “unnecessarily” elected an AfD representative as their committee chair. They either did not realize the danger posed by the extreme right or even made the conscious decision that “both are fatal.” Christoph Heubner, vice chairman of the International Auschwitz Committee, said on Friday that Etzrodt’s election was a devastating sign and that the Auschwitz survivors should “sound like a mockery.”
Since local elections in Thuringia in 2019, the AfD has been the strongest force on the council with nearly 29 percent and has twelve seats, eleven fewer than Etzrodt received votes on Thursday. The leader of the AfD parliamentary group, Harald Frank, said on Friday that there had been no prior agreements with other city council groups on voting behavior.
Leading Thuringian leftist politicians, SPD and Greens criticized Etzrodt’s election and accused the CDU of working with the AfD, contrary to their own statements. “Even a day later, you can’t believe it,” Environment Minister Anja Siegesmund (Greens) wrote on Twitter on Friday. The Thuringian CDU had to explain how they could have made “common cause with those who despised democracy.” The SPD’s economy minister and outgoing head of state, Wolfgang Tiefensee, noted that the CDU and the AfD had already worked together in the town hall. Three applications signed jointly by them speak clear language.
The CDU rejects the suspicion of having voted for the AfD man
The new head of the CDU country, Christian Hirte, in turn, had rejected the accusations against his party on Thursday night: “The CDU clearly agreed in the parliamentary group not to vote for the AfD candidate.” This is also what happened. This was confirmed the next day by Secretary General Christian Herrgott. “The AfD candidates do not find support from the Thuringian CDU. That is why the parliamentary group Gera CDU and CDU decided before yesterday’s vote, communicated clearly and adhered to it,” he said.
Since the AfD is sometimes highly represented in local parliaments, and not just in Thuringia, there are always occasional collaborations with other parties, even if its decision-making at the state level fundamentally excludes such collaborations. Gera’s case also reminds us of February, when the AfD elected FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich as prime minister with votes from the CDU, thus triggering a profound crisis of government.
In addition, there is dissent in Gera on how the right to propose elections to the presidency of the city council regulated in the main statute of the city should be interpreted and if it corresponds to the municipal ordinance of Thuringia. A dispute broke out after the local elections and had long delayed voting in the city council.
(With dpa material.)
