Overview
- A Bavarian AfD arbitration panel has voted to exclude MP Ralf Stadler and has already suspended his membership rights, a decision reported on Wednesday that is not yet final.
- Stadler rejects the ruling and plans to appeal first to the AfD's federal arbitration court and then to ordinary courts if needed, so his party and faction status remains legally contested.
- If Stadler's exclusion becomes final and he loses faction membership, the AfD would drop from the largest opposition group to behind the Greens in the Bavarian Landtag because faction order is set by current member numbers.
- In Lower Saxony the Friesland election committee barred Bundestag member Martin Sichert from standing as Landrat after the Interior Ministry used Verfassungsschutz findings under a new April law that lets the Kommunalaufsicht advise Wahlausschüsse, and several other AfD candidacies are now under review.
- Both tracks reflect a widening power struggle inside the AfD and a new state-level gatekeeping process that will prompt legal fights, could alter ballot lists before the September municipal vote, and will shape how voters and local administrations deal with contested candidates.