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🇩🇪 Germany /Elections & Politics

Three AfD politicians definitively barred from Lower Saxony local elections

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Official statement In the courts
  • The Lüneburg Higher Administrative Court upheld the exclusion of AfD deputy leader Stephan Bothe, Martin Sichert and Justin Vogel from Lower Saxony's upcoming local elections.
  • The court said the exclusions could be challenged through an election objection after voting, but its ruling itself cannot be appealed.
  • The decision does not determine whether the candidates were lawfully excluded; local election committees had cited doubts about their commitment to the constitutional order.

Three AfD politicians will not appear on the ballot in Lower Saxony's local elections after the state's higher administrative court rejected their urgent applications. The election is scheduled for Sept. 13.

AfD deputy leader Stephan Bothe had sought the district administrator's post in Lüneburg, while Martin Sichert wanted to run in Friesland. Justin Vogel was a candidate for mayor of Herzberg am Harz. Their local election committees had already refused to approve their candidacies, and lower administrative courts rejected their challenges.

The Lüneburg court said its Senate's decisions are final. It also explained that any challenge to the exclusions must come after the election through an election objection. That procedure, the court said, is intended to protect the smooth, simultaneous and timely conduct of the vote and allow results to be established promptly.

The Senate's decisions cannot be appealed.

· Lüneburg Higher Administrative CourtThe court described the status of its rulings on the three candidacies.

The court stressed that its ruling does not decide whether the exclusions themselves were lawful. Mayors, chief mayors and district administrators become civil servants for fixed terms, and candidates must provide assurance that they will uphold the free democratic constitutional order at all times. If doubts arise, election committees can involve municipal supervisory authorities, which may obtain information from the intelligence service. The local bodies nevertheless make their own decisions.

Lower Saxony's AfD is classified by the state's domestic intelligence service as confirmed far-right extremist, a designation the party is contesting in court. A fourth AfD politician, state lawmaker Thorsten Moriße, was excluded from the Wilhelmshaven mayoral race last week after an Oldenburg court rejected his urgent application. It was unclear whether that case would also reach the higher court.

This is intended to ensure the smooth conduct of the elections, their simultaneous and timely implementation, and the prompt determination of the results.

· Lüneburg Higher Administrative CourtThe court explained why challenges to candidate exclusions must normally wait until after the election.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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