She is now said to be living in Russia
AfD women should be stripped of their mandates
10.12.2024Reading time: 3 min.
Olga Petersen has already been excluded from the AfD parliamentary group because of her proximity to Russia. Now their mandates in the district and citizens are at stake.
Member of Parliament Olga Petersen, who was expelled from the AfD parliamentary group in the Hamburg parliament because of her proximity to Russia, is about to have her mandate revoked. The preliminary examination of an application for the loss of the mandate revealed that the 42-year-old no longer has a place of residence or “usual abode” in the Hanseatic city, as can be seen from a letter from state returning officer Oliver Rudolf, which is to be discussed in the citizens’ constitutional committee on Wednesday.
It says that these legally prescribed eligibility requirements “were no longer applicable” for Petersen. This means that “the facts for the loss of membership in the citizenry (…) are present.” Since the same conditions apply to her seat in the Harburg district assembly, to which Petersen was only elected in June, she could also lose this mandate.
In the last few months, Petersen had not taken part in any meetings of the town council or the district assembly. It is believed that she is permanently residing in Russia. At the end of October, an AfD member submitted an application to the mayor to have his mandate revoked.
In his letter, Rudolf points to a video circulating on the Internet that shows Petersen in an interview in which she says: “At the moment it is safer to stand up for Germany from Russia.” At the end of October, Petersen also posted a selfie of himself on Facebook at the summit of the Brics states in Kazan, Russia.
Petersen’s lawyer, who represented her in the party expulsion proceedings initiated by the AfD in the spring, has now resigned from his mandate because he can no longer reach Petersen, wrote Rudolf.
“Due to local investigations, the responsible registration authority determined that the MPs and their children had moved from their previous apartment and officially deregistered them as unknown with effect from September 1, 2024,” the letter continues.
For Petersen, the withdrawal of his mandate would also have financial consequences. As a member of the city council, she currently receives a monthly allowance of 4,448 euros to carry out her mandate – since an increase in the summer, a further 1,054.31 euros have been added to her monthly expense allowance for her mandate in the Harburg district assembly.
While the citizenship will be re-elected on March 2nd next year, the mandate in the district assembly would run until 2029.
Citizenship President Carola Veit spoke of an isolated case. “There has never been anything like this in the citizenry after 1945,” she told the dpa. “It’s good that we have clear rules that are now in effect. Anyone who is an elected politician in Hamburg must also live here.”
The Constitutional Committee is expected to make a decision on Wednesday, but the citizenry would have to make the final decision on the loss of mandate. This could happen at the beginning of next week when the state parliament meets for the final budget discussions.
The AfD justified the party expulsion proceedings against Petersen with her participation as an election observer in Russia, about which she had deceived the party.
In interviews, Petersen described the presidential election held in March, in which Vladimir Putin was confirmed in office, as “open, democratic and free.” A decision in the exclusion process is still pending, as a party spokesman said.