Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) – The opposition factions of the SPD and FDP want the Hessian state returning officer to check whether the transfer of the state parliament mandate from former Prime Minister Volker Bouffier to the former Minister of Justice Eva Kühne-Hörmann (both CDU) was lawful. This was announced by the two factions on Thursday in Wiesbaden. A constitutional report came to the conclusion that Kühne-Hörmann’s move up was unconstitutional. “Rather, the seat should have remained vacant if the election law had been applied in accordance with the constitution.” The factions of the SPD and FDP had had an amendment to the state election law legally examined.
This law was changed by the state government at a crucial point in paragraph 40 immediately before Bouffier left the state parliament – and without the parliament having been informed, said SPD parliamentary group leader Günter Rudolph. “One can speculate about the motives – but it is reasonable to assume that Ms. Kühne-Hörmann had to be cared for somehow from the point of view of the CDU.” The former justice minister was no longer considered for the cabinet by Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU).
Jörg-Uwe Hahn from the FDP parliamentary group said the report would now be passed on to the Hessian state returning officer Wilhelm Kanther. “We expressly reserve the right to submit the matter to the state court,” said Hahn. “However, we expect Mr. Kanther to certify the unconstitutionality himself and make a binding decision to revoke Eva Kühne-Hörmann’s mandate.”
When asked by dpa, Kühne-Hörmann said the state returning officer had informed her that she had accepted the mandate and she had done so. The CDU parliamentary group announced that the report commissioned by the SPD and FDP seemed very far-fetched.
