A motion to ban the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has officially been submitted to Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, a member of the far-left Social Democrats (SPD), paving the way for a vote on the ban to take place before snap parliamentary elections in February.
The move comes after 112 MPs signed the proposal, as reported by German state media outlets ARD and ZDF.
If the motion gets approved, the Bundestag will kick off proceedings that could ultimately lead to the German Constitutional Court deciding whether or not to ban the AfD. With 733 seats in the Bundestag, the motion only requires a simple majority to move forward. Presently, the AfD ranks as the second most popular party in Germany.
The goal is for the Federal Constitutional Court to review the ban application before the upcoming federal elections.
CDU MP Marco Wanderwitz first introduced the idea in late September, arguing that banning the AfD would essentially “pull the plug” on the party. He emphasized that such a move would prevent the AfD from seizing its assets and result in the immediate dismissal of anyone employed by the party. He described the potential ban as a “respite for democracy.”
With the sudden dissolution of the coalition government and the push for a new parliamentary election, the timeline has become tight. However, supporters of the ban argue that the process could still be discussed in Parliament this December, thanks to the timely submission of the application.
Here are the names of all the signatories, organized by their respective party factions:
- CDU: Marco Wanderwitz, Roderich Kiesewetter, Yvonne Magwas, Sabine Weiss, Kai Whittaker, Annette Widmann-Mauz, Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker.
- CSU: None.
- SPD: Carmen Wegge, Sanae Abdi, Bernhard Daldrup, Daniela De Ridder, Hakan Demir, Karamba Diaby, Axel Echeverria, Manuel Gava, Dirk Heidenblut, Markus Hümpfer, Elisabeth Kaiser, Annika Klose, Helge Lindh, Thomas Lutze, Zülanda Martens, Andreas Mehltretter, Dirk-Ulrich Mende, Robin Grehmann, Lisa Badum, Karl Bär, Canan Bayram, Janosch Dahmen, Ekin Deligöz, Leon Eckert, Marcel Emmerich, Emilia Fester, Schahina Gambir, Kai Gehring, Stefan Gelbhaar, Bernhard-Niclas Gesenhues, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, Erhard Grundl, Sabine Grützmacher, Linda Denise Loop, Susanne Menge, Swantje Michaelsen, Boris Mijatović, Claudia Müller, Beate Müller-Gemmeke, Karoline Otte, Julian Pahlke, Paula Piechotta, Filiz Polat, Anja Reinalter, Claudia Roth, Manuela Rottmann, Corinna Rüffer, Michael Sacher, Jamila Schäfer, Marlene Schönberg, Johannes Wagner, Saskia Weishaupt, Tina Winklmann.
- The Left Party: Martina Renner, Gökay Akbulut, Clara Bünger, Jörg Cézanne, Anke Domscheit-Berg, Susanne Ferschl, Nicole Gohlke, Ates Gürpinar, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, Ina Latendorf, Ralph Lenkert, Gesine Lötzsch, Cornelia Möhring, Heidi Reichinnek, Bernd Riexinger.
- AfD: None.
- FDP: None.
- Non-attached: Stefan Seidler (Southern Schleswig electoral association).
