Unsuccessful constitutional appeal for AFD candidate in Ludwigshafen's district election - Contested Election in Ludwigshafen: AfD Contender Rejected in Constitutional Appeal
The election for the new Lord Mayor of Ludwigshafen am Rhein is set to take place this Sunday, but one candidate has faced a series of hurdles in his bid to participate. Joachim Paul, a member of the Landtag in Mainz and a candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has been denied the opportunity to run due to doubts about his loyalty to the constitution.
Paul has been identified as having views that are not always in line with the free and democratic basic order, as indicated by his support for the idea of forced "remigration" of migrants. His constitutional request regarding the Lord Mayor election in Ludwigshafen am Rhein was dismissed in Koblenz by the constitutional court, and he has already failed in several instances in his urgent applications to administrative courts in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The initial decision to deny Paul the opportunity to run was made by the electoral committee of Rhineland-Palatinate city. The candidate asserted voting rights for a mayoral election, but the constitutional article he cited applies to parliamentary elections. The constitutional complaint of Paul was rejected due to insufficient engagement with previous court decisions and failure to analyze underlying facts.
At least parts of the AfD are considered right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence agencies at the federal and state levels. The party announced that it would support Paul in submitting constitutional complaints to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe and the Constitutional Court of Rhineland-Palatinate in Koblenz.
The ruling by the Higher Administrative Court of Koblenz, made on Tuesday, upheld the decision of the Ludwigshafen electoral committee, determining that it was not obviously flawed and no irreparable legal impairment was threatened. The ruling effectively bars Paul from running in the upcoming election.
The Lord Mayor Election in Ludwigshafen am Rhein will proceed as planned this Sunday, with Paul not among the candidates. The political debate about the initiation of a ban procedure for the AfD party continues, with this case serving as another example of the challenges faced by the party and its members in the political arena.
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