Germany’s Federal Election Office ruled yesterday that the Greens’ Saarland slate for the federal elections on Sept. 26 is not in accordance with election laws and therefore the Greens cannot be on the ballot in the state of Saarland, except for direct district candidates.
The ruling is also a big slap in the face of Green chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock and the national party executive which have massively interfered in the process of forcing through a slate above the heads of the Saarland Greens themselves. It began in early June with the directive coming from the national executive that a woman should be the slate leader. However, candidate Tina Schröder failed to get more than 40 votes in three rounds of voting from among the 150 delegates of the party’s nomination convention in Saarbrücken. In a new round of voting, longtime state party chairman Hubert Ulrich was then voted as slate leader with 95 votes, whereas Jeanne Dillschneider, received no more than 46 votes.
