When local elections take place in Lower Saxony in September, a number of AfD candidates will also be standing for election. The respective electoral committees are responsible for vetting the candidates in advance to ensure their loyalty to the constitution and, where necessary, excluding them from the election. However, the exclusion of a candidate from the election constitutes a serious encroachment on the right to stand for election, which is why the requirements regarding the factual basis and the prospective assessment by the electoral committee are very high. Mere political assessments are not sufficient for this purpose. „The strength of a robust democracy is not demonstrated by excluding a radical candidate as early as possible, but by ensuring that this is done only in strict accordance with the principles of the rule of law,“ says Rechtsanwalt Dr Dominik Lück, who advises local authorities on electoral law. He has also addressed the issue of the disqualification of radical mayoral candidates in an essay published in the journal *Landes- und Kommunalverwaltung* (LKV), issue 7/2026.