Resignation demand: Frontal attack against FDP politician Martin Sielmann

An open power struggle has broken out in the FDP Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The local chairman, Elias Fischbacher, wrote to the party members and raised serious allegations against the community and district councilor Martin Sielmann and called for his resignation.

He doesn't think about giving up - and senses an intrigue.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

- Martin Sielmann is undisputedly the face of the FDP - in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and in the district.

The eloquent and opinionated diplomat who works at the German Embassy in Prague has not only campaigned for the Liberals several times in the past.

Most recently he applied (unsuccessfully) for a Bundestag mandate.

He also holds the flag high for the Free Democrats in the municipality and district council - in both cases as a lone warrior.

He didn't just make friends in the process.

Some local politicians see him as a chief critic who sometimes overshoots the target - an accusation that leaves him indifferent.

FDP local chief Fischbacher sends letters

But now it is rumbling in its own ranks, more precisely in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen FDP. The local chairman Elias Fischbacher, who is traded as a young hope, attacks the upper liberal with full force. In a letter to the "dear party friends", with which he campaigns aggressively for supporters and signatures, Fischbacher calls for the "immediate resignation of Martin Sielmann from the municipal council and the district council".

The reason is equivalent to a general account. Tenor: Sielmann is no longer acceptable, you have to pull the rip cord. "In recent years, the work of Martin Sielmann, but above all his behavior, has caused ever greater damage to the entire district association of the FDP Garmisch-Partenkirchen", Fischbacher rages in the document. The local chief is specific: "We can no longer accept the rushes, counter-arguments and populist actions."

According to Fischbacher, the Free Democrats stand for progress and want to implement new ideas together with the currently elected local council and district council. However, cooperation and communication with the other parliamentary groups are "almost non-existent" at the moment. Sielmann's new workplace in the capital of the Czech Republic is also not a good prerequisite for exercising the aforementioned offices. "This results in increasingly poor election results and a catastrophic standing of the district association both in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and at the district and state level of the FDP," said Fischbacher.

When asked by the daily newspaper, the functionary is buttoned up.

It is an internal paper, he explains, that is only intended for the members of the district association - and not for the public.

There will be a debate soon.

According to Fischbacher, he is not alone in his attitude.

Sielmann speaks of a single action

Meanwhile, Sielmann goes over to the counterattack and sees himself as the victim of an attempted coup. “This is an individual action,” commented the representative. Fischbacher did not make the leap to the local council in the 2020 local elections and is now trying to get a seat with this campaign. “He wants to saw on my chair,” says Sielmann - and is combative: “But my chair is made of steel.” In other words, he doesn't even think about vacating his post. And he'll keep the party book too. After all, he had been closely associated with the FDP family for decades and was most recently re-elected for them in the municipality and district council. He is primarily concerned with the people and the place, emphasizes the Garmisch-Partenkirchner.

And now?

The outcome of the conflict - there were first signs this year at the general assembly of the district association - is open.

One thing is certain: Fischbacher, even if he has a majority behind him, cannot force Sielmann to give up the personal mandate.

This would have to leave the field voluntarily.

But it doesn't look like that at the moment.

Udo Weisenburger, the new FDP district chief since June, could not be reached for a statement on the explosive matter.