Election manipulation, generous dealings with party funds, violations of the law on parties - in the board of the AfD State Association Saar untenable conditions prevail. At least an internal report, prepared on behalf of the AfD Federal Executive Board, comes to this conclusion.
The expertise of SPIEGEL puts party leaders Alexander Gauland and Jörg Meuthen under pressure to act a few days before the federal party conference. Because on 16 pages the expert comes to a clear assessment: The offenses are sufficient to sell the complete board of Saar-AfD. The question is whether Gauland and Meuthen now quickly dare the clear cut or ... continue to accept the behavior of the Saar-AfD.
The Landesverband Saar and its boss Josef Dörr have been employing the AfD federal executive for years. In 2016, when Frauke Petry was still at the head of the AfD, the state association was temporarily dissolved due to contacts with right-wing extremists. However, the Federal Arbitration Court overturned corresponding decisions of the federal executive committee and of a federal party convention. As a result, the AfD state chairman Dörr, who was previously active for decades in the CDU and the Greens, consolidate his power.
Now, however, the expert of the Federal Executive Board describes an impeachment of the entire state executive as "appropriate". Author Christoph Basedow is a lawyer and connoisseur of the party, has overseen several party conferences over the years. He works for the office of the Bundestag member Enrico Komning, one of the parliamentary managing directors of the AfD parliamentary group.
Manipulation of delegate elections
In 14 individual points, appraiser Basedow dissects what is accused to the state executive committee of the Saar AfD - and confirms much of it. "Sufficient evidence" is about "that the state chairman J. Dörr manipulated delegate elections". Once, for example, Dörr "as chairman of the meeting had rejected proposals that differed from his candidate proposal, saying that their time would come".
According to the appraisal, the provincial board used the party coffers to pay litigation costs of third parties. Another offense on the panel led by Dörr: It did not recognize a district association, "although the proper choice was confirmed by the state and federal arbitration".
After the Federal Arbitration Court of the AFD pointed out to the state board that its decision was binding, initiated the state board according to the report an unsuccessful challenge to the district court Saarbrücken. In this case, the AfD "in addition to the financial damage a considerable loss of reputation".
Becker & Bredel / imago images
Josef Dörr, head of the Saar-AfD
In the AfD, the party's courts are always active as a dispute mediator. They should actually act freely and independently of board members and officials. However, according to the report, electronic mail to the state arbitration court in the Saarland does not land there, but first in the e-mail account of deputy head of state Dieter Müller.
Müller is one of the confidants of Josef Dörr. The reviewer: "The e-mails are also read by this." Letters written to the arbitral tribunal were found in the post office of the state executive committee. The appraiser writes of a "complete picture of complete control".
The appraiser also considers fatal changes to the articles of association, which the state executive committee decided. They "violate according to local legal opinion against mandatory regulations of the federal statute and / or the party law". Why an election campaign car, which bought the Saar AfD for 8000 euros, after the election day for only 3000 euros and thus "far below value" went to a party member, he could not understand.
Office referral as a "milder means"
All in all, he considers the impeachment of the state executive to be appropriate, he calls it a "milder remedy". If this measure is not sufficient, "for instance because the executive committee is re-elected by a majority in the then new election of the regional executive committee, the dissolution of the federation would be eligible (... ...)".
For this Friday, the state chairman Josef Dörr is invited to the Federal Executive Committee for a hearing. One week before the federal party convention of the AfD, this is an exciting question: Who is the federal executive, the expert or the heavily burdened state chairman?
A speaker of the federal executive committee left questions of the SPIEGEL to the Causa Saarland unanswered. One does not want to comment on the pending proceedings. The regional director of the Saar AfD, Christoph Schaufert, also wanted to make a comment and wait until the appointment on Friday. Dörr himself told the "Saarbrücker Zeitung", the appraiser Basedow was "of course not independent", the criticism of the Saar-AfD he described as "sucked from the fingers".
The author researches for EyeOpening.Media - The Investigative Network.
