Germany's opposition Christian Democrats expelled a controversial member of parliament, Mr Martin Hohmann, from the parliamentary party for making remarks about Jews in a speech last month, a party official said this morning.
The decision over whether to eject Mr Martin Hohmann was seen as a test of the authority of party leader Ms Angela Merkel. It was the first time the CDU had expelled one of its MPs and came in the face of opposition from many party members and activists.
Mr Hohmann said in a speech to a local meeting last month that Jews, like Germans, could be seen as a nation of "perpetrators" because many Bolsheviks of Jewish descent had taken part in mass executions during the 1917 Russian revolution.
A party official said 195 members of the parliamentary party voted in favour of the expulsion, 28 voted against and 16 abstained. "The result is quite clear but it also shows that it was a very difficult decision in human terms for many colleagues," Ms Merkel told reporters following the vote. "It was a hard day for us all."
Mr Hohmann initially refused to apologise although he later expressed some regret amid growing pressure from CDU leaders for him to resign once the remarks came to light, but he also garnered considerable support from ordinary party members.
Today two of Germany's major newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungand Sueddeutsche Zeitung, both carried an advertisement signed by some two dozen party members and activists urging Ms Merkel not to expel Mr Hohmann.