A confused video by a green candidate from Saarland raises questions. It is apparently part of the leadership crisis that is shaking the national association. The chaos is a new setback for the election campaign of Chancellor candidate Baerbock.
That comes at an inopportune time for the Greens. In the middle of the election campaign for the federal elections at the end of September, the Saar regional association is causing massive problems – and is thus becoming a burden for Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock. The list of candidates for the federal election, which an alliance of various local associations wants to take action against, because it violates the party’s women’s statute, had already caused trouble. The quarrels now even lead to the resignation of the newly elected state chairman Ralph Rouget. To make matters worse, a video is also making the rounds on social media in which a Saarland candidate for the Bundestag shows herself clueless during a survey on federal political issues. This now drew consequences and resigned from the party, as reported by the Saarland broadcasting company.
In the circulating video, Irina Gaydukova, most recently deputy state chairwoman and ranked second on the controversial state list for the federal election, is asked about federal political issues. It lacks answers on bicycle policy and on a meaningful connection between social justice and climate protection. Instead, there are uncomfortable pauses or the 52-year-old answers with counter-questions such as “What do you expect from me about this question?” or “Do I have time to think?” When asked about their position on CO2 certificate trading, there was an embarrassed silence. Several comments in the social media used the video to question the competence of the Greens in general.
Irina Gaydukova: So far, district politician
At the request of the stern a spokesman for the Saar state association of the Greens did not want to give any information about the appearance and the controversial party congress. The state chairwoman Barbara Meyer-Gluche later took Irina Gaydukova under protection. The “so far only politically committed member without rhetoric training” had “considerable stage fright and nervous flutter,” she said. Sandra Steinmetz, the former head of the Greens parliamentary group in the Saarbrücken regional assembly, spoke on Facebook that Gaydukova had “obviously been completely unprepared into this smear theater” at the party conference.
One explanation for the candidate’s speechlessness is therefore that Gaydukova without any national political experience was elected to the state executive during the party congress last Sunday. According to her profile on the party’s website, which now only contains an opinion from the Greens in the Saarbücken-Mitte district council, she joined the Greens three years ago and has been a member of the committee since 2019; so operated local politics at the district level. Nonetheless, the native Ukrainian stated that the rise of extremists had motivated her to become politically active. You made up your mind “that I want to do something about it.” After the recent shit storm on social media, she threw in the towel.
Dealing with the woman is affected, said Meyer-Gluche, head of the country. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU), the former prime minister of Saarland, also jumped at the Greens. The appearance is “certainly anything but professional”. The reactions on the net are worse. “A person is being destroyed here,” wrote Kramp-Karrenbauer.
With her withdrawal, it seems more uncertain than ever whether the country list on which Gaydukova is standing will endure. Members of various local associations of the Greens in Saarland announced that they would take action against the list. “The obvious and inconsiderate override of the women’s statute” is neither acceptable for the Greens in Saarland nor for the federal association, announced the approximately 50-strong “Saarland Green Alliance” last Tuesday in Saarlouis. The fact that Hubert Ulrich is now a man on the list represents a violation of the statutes and electoral law. The controversial former head of the Saar had prevailed in three ballots against the former head of the state Tina Schöpfer and also a vote against the head of the state Green youth, Jeanne Dillschneider, won. This criticized via Facebook that Ulrich and his supporters had “willingly accepted that they might not be able to submit a valid list”.
Greens in Saarland: New head of state resigns
Because of the quarrels about Ulrich and the turbulent state party conference, the newly elected state chairman Ralph Rouget resigned on Friday in addition to Gaydukova. As the “Saarbrücker Zeitung” and the Saarländische Rundfunk report, assessor Ute Kirchhoff has also resigned from her position. But Hubert Ulrich wants to stay, who has always been controversial among the Greens because the regional association, under his leadership, had spoken out in favor of a Jamaica coalition in the Saar in 2009, although arithmetically red-red-green would have been possible at that time.
The chaos among the Saar Greens is likely to have a lasting impact on the party’s federal election campaign. Green chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock had expressed sharp criticism of the procedure there the day after the Saar party conference. She said: “We have a quota for women in our party for good reason.” And: “We wanted it differently.” The federal board had discussed the events in Saarland, she said. It is expected that the Saar-Landesliste will become the subject of the party’s arbitration tribunals. Time is of the essence, however: the state lists of the parties must be submitted in less than a month, no later than July 19, 6 p.m.
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