Shortly before the state elections in Saxony on September 1, 2024, an election officer in Chemnitz was dismissed from his office. According to an article in a local Facebook group he had violated his obligation to impartiality. The local district association of the AfD even speaks of “announced electoral fraud” and claims to have filed a complaint.
What is behind it?
The debate was sparked by a screenshot of a Facebook post in which an election officer from the Chemnitz-Siegmar constituency reported on his work in the polling station. The Facebook user wrote that he had taken down an AfD poster that had been placed too close to the polling station. He then expressed his political views: “Thuringia is already lost,” he wrote, before wishing the CDU candidate in his constituency good luck in the election. He described the AfD Saxony as definitely right-wing extremist – which, according to Office for the Protection of the Constitution Saxony also is.
We asked the state election commission about the incident and instead received an answer from the city of Chemnitz – the mayor of Chemnitz and head of the city’s municipal statistics office were Election Officer of the Chemnitz constituencies. A press spokesman for the city of Chemnitz confirmed that the Facebook user was indeed a member of the electoral board of a Chemnitz constituency. The post was a breach of the requirement to impartial exercise of office to which electoral boards and other electoral bodies are obliged. Due to the contribution, the electoral officer was removed from his position.
Neutrality requirement or freedom of expression – which carries more weight here?
But didn’t the user just exercise his right to freedom of expression? This is the conclusion reached by some users in the comments under a post on Facebook.
The spokesperson for the city of Chemnitz wrote to us: “Insofar as the members of the electoral boards act as private individuals without a specific reference to their activities as members of an electoral body, the principle of freedom of expression applies. However, since the post in question was made with direct reference to the activities as an electoral board, the principle of maintaining the requirement of neutrality as a member of an electoral body applies.”
No evidence of electoral fraud and no police report by the AfD Chemnitz
In the comments under the Facebook post, users also accused the election officer of planning to manipulate the election. The Chemnitz district association of the AfD even wrote in its post that this was “obviously announced electoral fraud”. A city councilor from the party had therefore reported the election officer, the post said.
This does not mean a police report. When asked, Nico Köhler, a city councilor from the AfD council group in Chemnitz, explained that the city council had reported the incident to the electoral authority. The city did recall the election officer, but the press officer wrote to us that there was “no form of electoral fraud”. Apart from the recall, the election officer has no consequences to fear.
There were numerous unfounded accusations of electoral fraud around the state elections, as we have clarified in several fact checks (for example here, here and here). Behind this is a tactic that is repeated again and again around elections, including by circles close to the AfD, as we explain in our background.
Written by: Gabriele Scherndl, Uschi Jonas
Correction, September 24, 2024: We have corrected that the man was an electoral officer, i.e. a member of the electoral board in the corresponding electoral district in Chemnitz.
The most important public sources for this fact check:
- Law on elections to the Saxon State Parliament, Saxon State Parliament, 11 August 2023: Link
