AfD candidate Joachim Paul may not stand in the election for Lord Mayor of Ludwigshafen. The Administrative Court (VG) of Neustadt a.d. Weinstraße has now rejected his urgent appeal as inadmissible (Ref.: 3 L 889/25.NW dated 18 August 2025). In the meantime, the Rhineland-Palatinate Higher Administrative Court has also rejected the appeal against the Administrative Court's decision (Ref.: 10 B 11032/25 dated 25 August 2025).

Previously, the Ludwigshafen election committee had not approved the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament member and civil servant in the teaching profession as a candidate for the AfD in the mayoral election on 21 September 2025 due to doubts about his loyalty to the constitution. The committee members based their decision on reports from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, according to which Paul had contacts in right-wing extremist circles. Paul defended himself against this decision with his urgent application, arguing that his right to stand for election was being violated and that the election committee did not have to examine his constitutional compliance. His application was unsuccessful.

The VG Neustadt stated that decisions that relate directly to the election procedure can only be reviewed in subsequent election appeal proceedings. This is based on the principle that the subjective rights of individuals must take second place to the majority of voters. Interim legal protection can only be considered in the run-up to an election if it is established during the summary examination prior to the election that the election procedure is flawed and would therefore be declared invalid in subsequent election review proceedings.

„The review of subjective rights of individuals in subsequent election challenge proceedings is important to ensure practicability,“ says Rechtsanwalt Dr Dominik Lück. „Otherwise, a large number of applications could affect the elections without it being possible to clarify whether they are really justified.“