The Higher Administrative Court of Lower Saxony (OVG) has dismissed the appeals lodged by three AfD politicians. They had brought legal proceedings challenging the fact that the respective electoral committees had not approved them as candidates for the local elections in Lower Saxony on 13 September 2026 (Ref.: 10 ME 280/26 dated 4 September 2026). The OVG thereby upheld the previous decisions of the administrative courts.

The Higher Administrative Court (OVG) justified its decision on the grounds that, under Lower Saxony’s Local Elections Act, the results can only be contested by lodging an election objection within two weeks of the announcement of the election results. This is intended to ensure the smooth running of the elections, their simultaneous and timely conduct, and the prompt determination of the results. The court’s press release states that the ruling does not address whether the exclusion of the three AfD politicians from the election was lawful.

„The Higher Administrative Court of Lüneburg has thus confirmed the approach taken by the Higher Administrative Court of Koblenz last year. The question of whether a candidate’s disqualification was lawful is always examined only during the subsequent election review proceedings,“ explains Rechtsanwalt Dr Dominik Lück.