The left-wing mayor Tilo Kummer is threatened with being voted out in Hildburghausen because in the southern Thuringian city, social democrats voted together with AfD city councilors and a right-wing extremist alliance. The citizens now have the last word.
Hildburghausen (dpa/th) - politics with AfD and right-wing extremists? Actually an absolute taboo for social democrats. But in Hildburghausen in southern Thuringia, the mayor of the Left Party, Tilo Kummer, now has to fear for his office because city council members from the SPD, AfD, a right-wing extremist alliance and other groups jointly launched a motion to vote out. The Hildburghausener should decide on Kummer's future on Sunday. If you lower your thumb, that would probably also be a difficult situation for the Thuringian SPD.
"I hope that Tilo Kummer survives this voting procedure and that he can continue to work there in his capacity," said Thomas Jakob, chairman of the SPD district association in Hildburghausen. He criticized the actions of "the local comrades" from the start. He was not the only one in the SPD.
Clear words also came from Thuringia's SPD state leader Georg Maier. "We cannot get a left-wing mayor voted out with AfD votes," Maier said in November, when the whole thing could have been called off. SPD signatures were already found on the application for the deselection procedure. In order to actually start the process, a two-thirds majority in the city council was required. It would not have come about without the three SPD votes. But the vote was successful - now the people of Hildburghausen will be asked to go to the ballot box on Sunday.
The SPD city councilors not only voted with AfD people, but also with a right-wing extremist group. A member of the voters' association Bündnis-Zukunft-Hildburghausen (BZH) sits on the Hildburghausen city council. In the 2019 report for the protection of the constitution, the group was described as the "leading right-wing extremist group in the Hildburghausen district".
In the motion to vote out, the signatories argued that the relationship of trust between the citizens and the mayor was disturbed. Concerned residents have sometimes contacted the city council personally because they are dissatisfied with his administration. Disputes included a swimming pool and problems in a kindergarten.
Jakob also says: "The mayor has a communication problem." But the opt-out process is the wrong way. In any case, too many emotions were involved. There are no misconduct by Kummer that would have made it necessary to have a vote-out procedure against him within the meaning of municipal law. "In this situation, the office of mayor is also seriously damaged," he says.
Kummer does not have a stable majority in the city council, he has to organize it himself. A two-thirds majority voted for the 2023 budget, and a short time later the vote-out motion came.
When the decision was made to vote out of office, prominent representatives of the Thuringian SPD were stunned. The SPD member of parliament Diana Lehmann and other comrades initiated a party order procedure against the two remaining SPD city councillors, which was later postponed. An SPD city councilor had declared her withdrawal from the party - but she is still a member of the parliamentary group.
Kummer himself is hoping for a clear result on Sunday. The rules are complicated. The question on the ballot is: "Are you in favor of voting out the mayor, Mr. Tilo Kummer?" For a deselection, however, not only more yes than no votes are necessary. The yes votes must also represent at least 30 percent of those entitled to vote. As of February 10, 2022, there were 9,406 eligible voters. The number can still change - for example due to deaths. The people of Hildburghausen can vote from the age of 16.
"The worst thing would be if there was a clear negative vote at the end, but the quorum wasn't kept. Then we couldn't get any further in the city and maybe do the next round," says Kummer. In this case, several city councilors would have announced that they would make a second attempt to vote out.
"A clear vote would be important to me so that this period of uncertainty is over," he says. The swimming pool was broken, but the household had to be changed for a renovation. At the same time, he actually wanted to apply for funding for the stadium, which is currently not functional. "But I can only make one sensible application for sports facility funding," says Kummer. The football club is the largest club in the city, and school swimming is attached to the indoor swimming pool. If there were another voting procedure, it would make the already difficult discussion even more difficult, he said.
"I think the situation will be a local challenge for the SPD over the next few years, no matter how it turns out there," says SPD district leader Thomas Jakob. And he also wondered how it would be possible to shape politics in a city council "after such drastic measures were used".
