As of: February 24, 2024, 10:13 p.m
By: Karsten Hinzmann
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Split
Trouble on an open stage is part of the Southwest AfD party conferences.
In Rottweil, old trench warfare broke out again - the leadership duo held their ground.
Rottweil - Tumults, boos, blockade: The Baden-Württemberg AfD fought an hour-long argument in the Rottweiler town hall on Saturday (February 24th) over the holding of its party conference.
The board members argued on an open stage and turned off each other's microphones.
The opposing camps shouted and booed each other.
It was only in the afternoon that a meeting leader was elected for the event, which was actually supposed to start in the morning.
Federal Chairwoman Alice Weidel smoothed things over.
Ultimately, the leadership duo was able to hold its own in office.
The Bundestag member Markus Frohnmaier and the state parliament member Emil Sätze were both confirmed as chairmen of the state association.
75.7 percent of members voted for Frohnmaier, 24.3 percent against him.
76.46 percent voted for Sähne and 23.54 percent voted against him.
Between 800 and 900 members took part in the elections.
With the confirmation of the leadership duo, the camp around federal chairwoman Alice Weidel was able to assert itself in Rottweil.
Neither Frohnmaier nor Sanzen had an opposing candidate.
The Mutinous Seven: State Executive Board is Criticized
The reason for the tumult was the overcrowding of the town hall in Rottweil, which only offers 1,040 seats.
The Southwest AfD does not send delegates to the party conferences; every ordinary member is allowed to come.
It is difficult to predict in advance how many people will appear from which camps.
Since far too many AfD supporters had arrived in Rottweil on Saturday morning, all members and guests were initially expelled from the hall.
After the hall was cleared, only those eligible to vote were allowed back into the hall; other party members had to stay outside.
In the afternoon, additional members were accredited to fill remaining vacancies.
The hall was searched for voting machines by security guards during the evacuation, as a rumor was circulating that individual members had had several voting machines given to them.
Total chaos: AfD politicians around Markus Frohnmaier (second from left) discuss how to proceed in the Rottweil town hall - the state party conference of the southwest AfD was dominated by old trench warfare.
© Christoph Schmidt/dpa
Rottweil was crucial for the state association: On Saturday, the state party's board was up for election.
The committee is considered very divided.
Seven board members are currently dissatisfied with the chairman duo Markus Frohnmaier and Emil Sähne.
22 district associations had therefore called for the special party conference to be held in order to resolve the blockade situation - also with a view to the upcoming local and European elections.
According to information from the party, behind this is a long-simmering power struggle between Bundestag parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel and Bundestag member Dirk Spaniel.
Spaniel is said to be behind the seven mutinous board members, Frohnmaier is believed to be part of Weidel's camp.
The mediator Weidel: Federal Chairwoman smoothed things over
Due to the chaos, several board members voted to cancel the party conference;
they claimed that voting members were turned away at the door.
From their point of view, this would have made a board election retrospectively contestable.
If not all members entitled to vote had been able to come into the hall at the end, it would actually have been conceivable that the event would have had to be canceled.
Party leadership said members entitled to vote would not be turned away, but more than 1,040 people were reportedly not allowed into the hall for security reasons.
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Four hours after the planned start of the party conference, the members were still arguing heatedly about whether the party conference could even be held legally.
“We want to work together to ensure that the state association finds itself in calm waters so that it is prepared for the local and European elections,” said Weidel.
“We cannot afford to prolong the conflict in the state executive board any further,” said Weidel, who came onto the stage in the middle of the tumult and essentially filled the gap and apparently smoothed things over.
Both Weidel and Spaniel have already led the disputed regional association in the past.
Spaniel repeatedly tries to mobilize his own troops and grab power there again.
(with dpa)