Electoral fraud in the state parliament? AfD deputies under suspicion

The plenary chamber of the state parliament: Is there trickery in voting? © Matthias Balk

There are big inconsistencies in the state parliament: At the center of the allegations is the AfD parliamentary group. It's also about money. At least one session.

Munich – The core of democracy is small, you can take it in your hand and press on it. "Yes" (green button), "No" (red button), "abstention" (yellow button): With small mobile voting machines, the 205 members of the state parliament decide on Bavaria's politics. That sounds fast, modern, reliable – but now an ugly suspicion is rampant in parliament: Are the devices being misused to falsify votes?

If you press the button, you earn up to 100 euros

According to information from the Münchner Merkur, several parliamentarians have indications of electoral fraud at at least one meeting. In the plenary session of March 29 – the big budget debate – at least one member of the AfD voted, whom no one in the hall can remember. He is also not to be seen on videos of the vote in the plenary chamber. The suspicion of the other groups: Did a colleague also operate the digital radio voting machine? That would be a falsification of the vote – and presumably fraud, because voting is also linked to the fact that MEPs receive the full attendance fees for the respective day. Anyone who votes even though they have not signed on the attendance list is considered present. In plenary, it is about 100 euros per day, tax-free.

Internally, leading politicians in the state parliament have sounded the alarm. In the Council of Elders, a kind of "Council of Wise Men" of the Maximilianeum, the case was dealt with on April 19. The state parliament office had employees questioned again and all videos from the hall checked – nowhere was the member of parliament in question on it. However, because there are two spots in two rear corners of the Chamber that are not captured by cameras, the evidence cannot be watertight.

Aigner: This is not a trivial offense!

In an internal letter, the president of the state parliament, Ilse Aigner (CSU), foams at the mouth that this is "by no means a trivial offense," but rather a "deeply unparliamentary behavior that is likely to call into question the credibility of our democratic processes." But: She had decided "after careful consideration against taking concrete consequences" because the crime and perpetrator are not clearly verifiable.

From the AfD, it is only said that the process is known from the Council of Elders – but not that such an accusation is directed against their own group.

FDP speculates: Only the tip of the iceberg

At least for the FDP, this does not go far enough. Vice-President of the State Parliament Wolfgang Heubisch and Parliamentary Secretary Matthias Fischbach have followed up with Aigner in writing. "It shocks me," says Fischbach. The process was "deeply anti-democratic" and probably also "practically like disloyalty to the taxpayer". Perhaps this is "just the tip of the iceberg," says Fischbach. The FDP sits in the state parliament (against its will) shoulder to shoulder with the AfD, gets a lot of it. Among other things, eyewitnesses report that there were several voting machines on the table of an AfD deputy. And there was an incident recently in which this Member of Parliament came forward by voting machine for an intermediate remark, but was registered with the profile of a group colleague.

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Fancy a voyage of discovery?

My Area

In the future, i.e. after the next state election in autumn, the voting machines are to be permanently installed in the squares. This does not rule out misuse, but it is easier to capture with a camera.