In the dispute with the AfD right winger Andreas Wild, party leader Kristin Brinker has to cope with a defeat. A ban on officials against Wild, who was elected deputy chairman of the AfD Steglitz-Zehlendorf in July 2022, unanimously passed by the state executive board in early January, was rejected by the arbitration board of the state association. The application was “obviously inadmissible and unfounded,” the arbitral tribunal declared in a decision on Tuesday.
In his justification, the responsible judge Michael Adam, formerly the legal counsel of the state association, refers to the non-compliance with legal requirements by the state board. He submitted the application for a ban from office directly to the Federal Arbitration Court and not, as Adam says, to the responsible arbitration court. As a result, there is the “procedural obstacle of double lis pendens,” writes Adam in a decision available to the Tagesspiegel. Adam explains that the problem can only be resolved by withdrawing the application from the Federal Arbitration Court.
The at least preliminary consequence of the decision: Wild may “fully exercise its membership rights until a contrary decision is made”. In plain language, this means that Wild will remain deputy district chief and delegate for the next federal party conference of the AfD until further notice. He is also running directly for re-election on February 12.
A party exclusion procedure against Wild before the Federal Arbitration Court of the party remains unaffected by the process. Wild’s party exclusion is not legally binding even two years after it was imposed by the AfD state executive. Wild’s recently openly nurtured sympathy for Judge Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who is in custody on suspicion of terrorism, does not change that at first.
Hostile takeover in the district association
The background to the dispute is Wild’s actions in the district association. As reported, there was a quarrel there at the beginning of December with district chief Volker Graffstädt, who had previously been an ally of Wild. Against the express wishes of Graffstädt and Brinker, Wild pushed through the founding of a district office with his own majority. The magazine “Trend”, which was previously self-managed, has also recently been published in the name of and probably at the expense of the district association. Since then, it has been said in party circles that Wild has practically taken over this role.
It remained unclear on Wednesday how party leader Brinker and the state executive she led would react to the decision of the state arbitration board. A Tagesspiegel request to party spokesman Roland Gläser remained unanswered. The deadline set by the state arbitration court for rectification or withdrawal of the application expires on Friday.
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