Internal dispute: Saar-Greens put up with Dillschneider but a woman as a top candidate

The Saar Greens want to go into the federal election campaign with Jeanne Dillschneider at the top.

The 25-year-old was voted first on the state list in Saarbrücken on Saturday.

56 delegates voted for Dillschneider, 27 against and 3 abstentions.

Four weeks ago Dillschneider was defeated in a controversial meeting in a fight against Hubert Ulrich.

Until recently, it was unclear whether the Greens in Saarland could draw up a new list.

After the events of the last few weeks, Dillschneider called on the party to understand the crisis as an opportunity “from which we can grow”. At the beginning, despite objections and concerns about the legality, the delegates decided to hold the meeting and to repeal the list adopted on June 20, in which the former long-term state party leader Hubert Ulrich was elected first and thus the top candidate of the Saar Greens.

The events surrounding this election had plunged the state party into violent turmoil.

The regional arbitration tribunal had submitted appeals to the federal party due to bias.

The commissioned arbitration court in Rhineland-Palatinate declared the election to be invalid because party members who were not entitled to vote had also voted, and also saw a violation of the party's women's statute.

"Imminent risk of contestation"

Ulrich had failed at the same time before the regional court with an urgent application with which he wanted to ensure that the list with him at the top had to be submitted to the electoral authorities. After the defeats before the party arbitration and regional court, he announced his withdrawal and renounced a new candidacy. At the end of the day it was questionable whether the list could be reorganized. The Federal Arbitration Court had excluded the delegates from Ulrich's local association Saarlouis because of irregularities in the delegation list.

In the course of the internal party disputes, part of the new state party executive, also elected on June 20, resigned. Most recently, chairwoman Barbara Meyer-Gluche resigned from office. A party conference with board elections also planned for Saturday has been canceled at short notice. The background is the recommendation of the regional arbitration court to postpone the party congress “because of the threat of contestation”, the party's regional office said.