Volunteer work in the Constitutional Court
Bavaria’s state parliament elects AfD candidates with a stomach ache
January 24, 2024, 7:28 p.m
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In 2018, without much fanfare, two AfD candidates were elected as honorary members of the Bavarian Constitutional Court. But since then the party has mutated into a suspected right-wing extremist case, and not just in Bavaria. Members of Parliament have to make a difficult decision.
Despite massive reservations about candidates named by the AfD, the Munich state parliament has elected 15 honorary members of the Bavarian Constitutional Court. For the election, which is actually a formality, all political groups had the right to nominate candidates. Voting had to be done in a block. After lengthy discussions, the CSU and Free Voters voted for the list, which also includes two AfD candidates plus two deputies – ultimately for legal reasons. The AfD also voted in favor, while the Greens and SPD voted no.
“The SPD has a tradition of anti-fascism,” quoted BR SPD parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn. It is a big problem that there is a party in parliament that is anti-democratic and anti-people. “We weighed it up very carefully,” said von Brunn about the vote. He understands everyone who says “it is important to pay attention to the functionality of the Constitutional Court.” However, the SPD decided not to elect the “new Nazis”. “Enemies of our constitution have no place in a constitutional court,” said the parliamentary director of the Green parliamentary group, Jürgen Mistol, according to BR.
The decisive factor in the approval of the CSU and Free Voters for the uniform list of proposals was the concern about legal uncertainty due to a lack of judges and ultimately the concern about maintaining the ability of the highest Bavarian court to function – especially since the honorary judges are of no importance in daily practice anyway . “We have to adhere to the rules that we have given ourselves and that cannot be changed overnight,” said the parliamentary director of the CSU, Michael Hofmann, on behalf of the Free Voters.
“We don’t like the result. But we cannot allow the people of Bavaria to doubt the proper jurisprudence in Bavaria or even to lose trust in the Bavarian Constitutional Court as a constitutional body,” said Hofmann. A constitutional or judicial crisis is really the last thing you need at this time. However, Hofmann announced that the coalition wanted to initiate a change in the legal basis. “Democracy must remain defensive and change rules if they can be abused,” said the CSU politician.
AfD candidates were already elected in 2018
The President of the Constitutional Court, Hans-Joachim Heßler, had reportedly warned in a letter to the state parliament of “serious constitutional uncertainties” if the state parliament were to abandon its previous election practice. In effect, the court would then have had to find a way to deal with two vacancies or a waiver of the entire election. According to Heßler, all options would have been associated with significant risks.
At the beginning of the last legislative period in 2018, the two candidates named by the AfD were quietly elected. There was no change in the legal basis for the election of honorary judges in the following years. The situation today is somewhat different than it was back then: the AfD in Bavaria is now being monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and in some countries the party is already considered to be right-wing extremist.