2024-04-02 22:06:07
After almost ten years with the AfD, Bundestag member Thomas Seitz is leaving the party. The party’s shift to the right is not the decisive factor.
AfD member of the Bundestag Thomas Seitz from South Baden has announced his resignation from the party and parliamentary group. Seitz announced on Sunday on his website and social media channels that he would be leaving with effect from March 31st. He was expressly not interested in a shift to the right in the AfD, he said about the reasons for his move. He struggled with what the party had developed into and spoke of a “system of favoritism.” The decisive factor for the withdrawal was the AfD’s special party conference in Baden-Württemberg at the end of February. Seitz represents the Emmendingen-Lahr constituency.
During the party conference he had already felt the urgent need to resign from the party immediately, but had put this off for weeks and was still torn inside. “But the prevailing feeling is still that of pure disgust for my own party, which I have been supporting for 10 years,” said Seitz.
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As if nothing had happened, a second party conference was held to vote and change the statutes, said Seitz. The leadership duo – Bundestag member Markus Frohnmaier and state parliament member Emil Sätze, both representatives of the camp around AfD leader Alice Weidel – were able to hold their own in office in the election. In his statement, Seitz speaks of a “coup by the chairmen.”
With his departure, the AfD parliamentary group still has 77 members. It started after the 2021 federal election with 82 elected officials. Several politicians have now left the group for various reasons. Seitz emphasized that he would continue to fulfill his mandate as a non-attached MP.