Candidates of the German far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) running for the European Parliament will have to submit evidence to verify their resumes to the party leadership, as investigations revealed that the resumes of two candidates contained false or misleading claims.
Serious doubts have already been raised in recent weeks about the CVs of two of the AfD’s top candidates for the European Parliament: Arno Bausemer and Mary Khan-Hohloch, both in the top 15 of the AfD’s list for the upcoming EU elections in 2024. Both have been accused of inflating their CVs.
In reaction to the scandal, the party leadership decided on Monday that all 35 candidates on the list must submit evidence to verify their CVs, as reported first by t-online.
The leadership wants to maintain transparency, trust, and credibility, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, the party’s co-leaders, told dpa.
Bausemer had claimed that he completed two journalistic traineeships, which the proclaimed employers publicly deny, t-online’s investigations revealed. Further statements about a scholarship and an executive-level occupation at his parents’ “farming operation” also proved dubious.
Bausemer has denied the accusations. “I will leave my CV as it is. There is no reason to change anything about it,” he previously told MDR while lashing out at “hate platforms” on Facebook.
A point-of-order motion at the party conference also accused Khan-Hohloch of “fraudulent deception”.
There were “serious doubts about the truthfulness of the obligatory disclosures made by [Mary Khan-Hohloch]”, it read. Claims about her extensive education and professional experience appeared mutually incompatible and thus “improbable if not impossible”, leading the motion to demand a repetition of the election for position 14 and a recall of the candidate.
However, it was ultimately rejected after an intervention by Weidel.
But pressure to act on the revelations had been building from the party’s base for weeks.
As the leadership finally gave in, its decision to ask for references from all candidates reportedly trumped a more radical proposal to screen the two candidates thoroughly.
Results are expected to be presented on 18 September. The party has not yet commented on potential consequences should the investigation incriminate any candidates.
(Nick Alipour | EURACTIV.de)
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