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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Green Alternative Freiburg (German: Grüne Alternative Freiburg), GAF for short, is a local political party in the German city of Freiburg im Breisgau, which split off from The Greens in the City Council in 2008.
The city councilors Monika Stein and Coinneach McCabe justified their decision to leave the party with the "no longer existing mutual respect" between them and the — at the time incumbent — Green mayor Dieter Salomon and increasing differences when it comes to policies. The Greens in Baden-Württemberg, the state in which Freiburg is located in, are considered to be more conservative than in most other states, likely playing a part. The two had already been displeased with the policy of The Greens for quite some time already, which they considered to be somewhat undemocratic. They also critizised the lack of independence of the Green Party from the Mayor.[1] In the end, they founded the new political group, somewhat further to the left of The Greens.[2]
The Greens filed a complaint against the use of the name "Grüne Alternative Freiburg", which was rejected by the local court on July 7, 2012. The appeal against this decision was rejected by the Higher Regional Court on December 18, 2013.[3]
Coinneach McCabe, the Scottish top candidate of the Green Alternative Freiburg, was born in Glasgow in 1974 and has been living in Freiburg since 1999.[4] Monika Stein was born in Freiburg, worked as a teacher and had been a member of The Greens since 2002, then getting elected into the City Council for them in 2004, education being a very important topic for her.[1] McCabe left the group in 2016 before moving to Berlin for personal and professional reasons, with Monika Stein replacing him after narrowly not being elected again in 2014.[5]
The Green Alternative Freiburg are considered to be to the left of The Greens on multiple topics. Proposals for the 2024 local election included, among others:[6]
In Freiburg city council elections, voters can cast a total of 48 votes due to 48 seats being allocated.
The Green Alternative likely benefitted from the climate movement, such as Fridays for Future, receiving a lot of attention in 2019.
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