Election candidates in the local district have perished, rendering their ballot papers ineffective

The local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) are approaching on September 14, but a series of unfortunate events has cast a shadow over the process. A total of ten candidates from various parties and voter associations have died after their nomination for the elections, with four of them being from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

In a tragic turn of events, the AfD candidate in Rheinberg, Wolfgang Seitz, passed away due to an initially unclear cause of death. As a result, a death investigation procedure was initiated. However, the police have since stated that there are no indications of external involvement in the deaths of the four AfD candidates. Similarly, the exact cause of death of Wolfgang Seitz remains undisclosed due to personal data protection reasons and consideration for the relatives.

The city of Bad Lippspringe has also been affected by this unfortunate series of events. The AfD candidate, Stefan Berendes, died of natural causes, and no death investigation procedure was initiated. Consequently, the voting documents already issued in the affected electoral district are no longer valid. Ballot papers must be reprinted at short notice and postal voters must vote again.

The Municipal Election Act provides for the possibility of a by-election if a candidate dies before the election day. However, there is no reporting obligation for candidate deaths in the NRW local elections to the state election supervisor.

The SPD candidate in Bad Münstereifel, Eleonore Jüssen, will no longer be able to stand for election, and Manfred Schneider has been nominated as a replacement candidate for the AfD's Wolfgang Klinger, who also passed away due to natural causes.

Cases of candidate deaths have been reported in Rheinberg, Schwerte, Blomberg, and Bad Lippspringe. The communal election candidate of the Greens in Hellenthal, Karl Reger, has also tragically passed away.

Despite these unfortunate events, the police in Paderborn have maintained discretion due to personal data protection reasons and have not conducted further investigations into the deaths of the four AfD candidates. The SPD and the Greens have not made any official statements regarding these incidents.

The local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia are set to take place on September 14, and it remains to be seen how these unfortunate events will impact the voting process and the final results.