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The Kassel administrative court has rejected urgent applications from the AfD district association in Fulda. The party wanted to take action against a regulation in the municipality of Künzell that prohibits posters on light poles.
Künzell – In Künzell, election posters may only be attached to designated boards. These were purchased almost 50 years ago and were renewed in 2015/16. To support the parties, the community even takes on the task of hanging the posters. “Perhaps the idea behind the limitation was not to disadvantage the smaller parties who have less resources for posters,” Mayor Timo Zentgraf (independent of party) tries to explain the peculiarity. In his eyes, it is a model that is often praised.
However, the AfD found itself at a disadvantage: Since space on the walls is limited, each party was allowed to put up a total of twelve posters. This meant that not every group of applicants could be present with a poster in every district. In response, the AfD district association hung its posters on lampposts and filed an application for urgent legal protection. The municipality then gave permission for a total of 24 instead of twelve posters per party to be placed next to the walls intended for election advertising. “It was only after the administrative court was involved that the community moved at all,” writes AfD district chairman Pierre Lamely.
Court rejects AfD urgent applications against poster rules in Künzell
Construction yard employees removed the posters on the light poles – rightly so, as the court decided. Although visual advertising for elections is an important part of today's democracy, there are no unlimited demands. In particular, a municipality should also take aspects such as preserving the townscape into account.
“Legally, a municipality has to approve one poster for each competing party for every 1,000 inhabitants, so 17 locations would have been enough,” emphasizes Mayor Timo Zentgraf (independent of party). “The AfD knows the rules from previous election campaigns, but this year they started to put up wild posters,” he reports. “We don’t want Künzell to look like some streets in Fulda that are plastered with posters.”
The chairman of the Künzell CDU local branch, Daniel Kremer, agrees: “The handling is the best thing for the environment and people; the posters hang neatly and cannot blow away.” SPD parliamentary group leader Dieter Lachnit has been a community representative for 30 years and is “very satisfied with the regulation”. The AfD has now lodged an appeal against the court's decision. (By Sandra Limpert)
Just a few days ago 24 stolen FDP posters found in the forest in Nüsttal.
