ST PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd December, 2021) The German ruling majority in the country's legislative body is purposefully and systematically depriving the opposition Alternative for Germany party (AfD) of all Bundestag commissions' chairmanships, bypassing rules of procedure, AfD member Albert Breininger told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"All three AfD candidates for the chairmanship of the interior, health and development committees were recently rejected by the majority. Although the group is entitled to the seats according to the rules of procedure. Other Bundestag groups are trying to sideline the opposition on fictitious pretexts," Breininger said.
Martin Hess, who is a former police officer, was nominated by the Afd as chairman of the interior affairs committee. The five major Bundestag groups voted against his candidacy over alleged security concerns, as some of the opposition party members have been put under surveillance by domestic intelligence agencies on suspicion of far-right extremism, the politician explained.
According to Breininger, the party sees the recent rejections as a systematic policy of exclusion, referring also to several AfD candidates for vice parliamentary speaker, who all failed to get the necessary majority.
"The government coalition, those five parties in the parliament, constantly bully us," he said.
Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution earlier in 2021 announced that it had ruled to place over 80 Bundestag members of the Afd under state surveillance over alleged ties to far-right extremism.
