In the course of an affair about fake accounts in Bamberg’s local politics, the SPD parliamentary group leader Klaus Stieringer resigned. “With this step, I am taking political responsibility for the events that arose in connection with my false statement on the show Quer,” said the politician on Friday, according to a statement at the meeting of the district executive of the Bamberg SPD. He also wants to protect his family and the entire SPD.
The SPD district chairman Felix Holland emphasized in the statement from the SPD Bamberg: “Fake accounts are not part of the democratic discourse culture and we strictly reject them.”
Criticism of reporting in the local press
The cooperation between the Greens and the SPD in the city council broke down last Tuesday over the dispute in the affair. The Greens faction had terminated the cooperation because the SPD faction was sticking to Stieringer. He had approved of the fact that accounts with false names in a Facebook group expressed themselves in part as being SPD-friendly and had come under criticism for this. The politician had left office since mid-December.
On the Facebook page, where Bamberg’s local politics are also discussed, users are said to have jumped to the side of the SPD under a false name and in some cases were critical of the reporting in the local press – this was initially revealed by research by the Bamberg cabaret artist Florian Herrenleben.
Fake accounts – “I know a lot of them, I even know them well”
When asked about this in the “Quer” program of Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Stieringer said in December: “I know many of them, I even know them well” – meaning the people behind the accounts. Fake accounts give people the opportunity to move around anonymously on social networks while protecting their personal rights. “I think that’s okay.” He later spoke of a mistake.
The Greens emerged from the 2020 local elections as the strongest force (12 seats). The SPD (7 seats) is the third strongest party after the CSU (10). In the spring of 2020, the Greens and SPD entered into cooperation.
(bme)