Free Voters

Free Voters (German: Freie Wähler, FW) is a centre-right[5] political party in Germany. The party originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (Freie Wählergemeinschaften), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These associations are usually locally-organised groups of voters in the form of a registered association (eV). In most cases, Free Voters campaign only at local government level, standing for city councils and for mayoralties. Free Voters tend to achieve their most successful electoral results in rural areas of southern Germany, appealing most to conservative voters who prefer local decisions to party politics. Free Voter groups are active in all of the states of Germany.

Free Voters
Freie Wähler
AbbreviationFW
ChairmanHubert Aiwanger
Deputy ChairpersonsManfred Petry
Gabi Schmidt
Gregor Voht
Engin Eroglu
Denise Wendt
Federal Managing DirectorArnold Hansen
Federal TreasurerChrista Hudyma
Founded1965 (1965) (as Bundesverband)
24 January 2009 (2009-01-24) (as a party)
HeadquartersMühlenstraße 13, Ganderkesee, Germany
Youth wingYoung Free Voters
Membership (2020)6,225[1]
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right
European affiliationEuropean Democratic Party
European Parliament groupRenew Europe
Colours  Orange
  Azure
State parliaments
38 / 1,889
European Parliament
2 / 96
Website
www.freiewaehler.eu

History

In the 2008 Bavaria state election, the FW association obtained 10.2% of the vote and gained their first 20 seats in the Landtag of Bavaria.[6] FW may have been helped by the presence in its list of Gabriele Pauli, a former member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU).[7][8] Others suggested that it was the other way round.[9] Unlike in the other German states, the Free Voters of Bavaria have also contested state elections since 1998. In the state election of 2013 FW repeated its success, gaining 19 seats.

In the 2014 European parliament elections in Germany, the Free Voters list received 1.46% of the national vote and returned a single MEP, Ulrike Müller,[10] who sits with the ALDE Group.[11] The federal Free Voters association joined the European Democratic Party in October 2015.[12]

In June 2017 Arne Gericke, who sits with European Parliament's European Conservatives and Reformists group and was elected in 2014 on the Family Party of Germany list, joined the federal association.[13] Gericke left it 15 months afterward for Alliance C – Christians for Germany.

In the 2018 Bavarian state election, the Free Voters won a record 27 seats, entering into a coalition government as junior partner to the CSU.

Following the 2019 European Parliament election in Germany, the Free Voters sit in the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament with two MEPs.[14][15]

In the European Committee of the Regions the Free Voters sit in the Renew Europe CoR group with one alternate member for the 2020–2025 mandate.[16]

In the 2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election, the FW entered the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate for the first time, amassing 5.4% of the vote and six seats.[17]

Ideology, platform, policies

The Free Voters are a conservative party,[18] supporting devolving more power to the local level.[19] The party is in opposition to the European Union's financial policies.[20]

Ideologically, on the political spectrum, it has been described by some sources as being between the Free Democratic Party and the Party of Bible-abiding Christians,[20] and by others as between the Christian Social Union and the Alternative for Germany (AfD).[21] Europe Elects described it as centrist.[22] Politico has described the party as conservative and right-wing, noting the similarities between their rhetoric and the statements of the AfD.[23]

Federal election results
Election Leader Constituency Party list Seats +/– Government
Votes  % Votes  %
2009 Manfred Ehlert (FWD) 11,243 0.0 (#22)
0 / 622
 Extra-parliamentary
2013 Hubert Aiwanger 431,640 1.0 (#10) 423,977 1.0 (#10)
0 / 631
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
2017 589,056 1.3 (#8) 463,292 1.0 (#8)
0 / 709
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
2021 1,334,093 2.9 (#8) 1,127,171 2.4 (#8)
0 / 735
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary

State Parliaments (Länder)
In light orange are the regions where FW is represented in the state parliament, in dark orange are the regions where FW is in the state government. (2023)

The Free Voters do not contest state elections in Brandenburg due to the close cooperation with the BVB/Free Voters, who only compete in the state elections in Brandenburg.

State parliament Election Votes % Seats +/– Government
Baden-Württemberg 2021 146,259 3.0 (#6)
0 / 154
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Bavaria 2023 2,163,353 15.8 (#2)
37 / 205
 Increase 10
Berlin 2023 3,923 0.26 (#16)
0 / 160
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Bremen 2019 14,205 1.0 (#9)
0 / 84
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Hamburg 2020 16,357 0.4 (#?)
0 / 123
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Hesse 2018 85,465 3.0 (#6)
0 / 137
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Lower Saxony 2022 30,453 0.8 (#10)
0 / 137
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2021 10,075 1.1 (#9)
0 / 71
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
North Rhine-Westphalia 2022 49,985 0.7 (#10)
0 / 199
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Rhineland-Palatinate 2021 103,619 5.4 (#6)
6 / 101
 Increase 6 Opposition
Saarland 2022 7,636 1.7 (#9)
0 / 51
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Saxony 2019 72,897 3.4 (#7)
0 / 119
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Saxony-Anhalt 2021 33,288 3.1 (#7)
0 / 97
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Schleswig-Holstein 2022 8,190 0.6 (#11)
0 / 73
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
Thuringia 2019 n/a -
0 / 90
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary

References
  1. "Unterrichtung durch die Präsidentin des Deutschen Bundestages" (PDF). Deutscher Bundestag. 15 June 2022. p. 19. Am 31. Dezember des Rechnungsjahres waren 6.225 Personen Mitglieder der Partei. (On 31 December of the financial year, 6,225 people were members of the party.)
  2. Sylvia Kritzinger; Carolina Plescia; SKolja Raube; James Wilhelm; Jan Wouters, eds. (2020). Assessing the 2019 European Parliament Elections. Taylor & Francis. p. 263. ISBN 9781000057263. As in 2014, seven minor parties with vote shares below 5 per cent gained seats in the European Parliament, ranging from single-issue parties like the Animal Protection Party (one seat) or the Family Party (one seat) to the satirical 'Die Partei' (two seats) or the liberal-conservative 'Free Voters'.
  3. "Free Voters — What you need to know". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  4. Skiadas, Christos H.; Bozeman, James R. (7 March 2019). "14: Visualizing the Political Spectrum of Germany by Contiguously Ordering the Party Policy Profiles". John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781119579533. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  5. Eric Langenbacher (2022). The German Polity: Twelfth Edition. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 315. ISBN 978-1-53-814661-3.
  6. "Ergebnisse Landtagswahl Bayern 2008". Archived from the original on 30 September 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. s. "Freie Wähler - Sicher nicht Frau Pauli - Bayern - sueddeutsche.de". Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  8. "Landtagswahl in Bayern: Ist Gabriele Pauli schuld am Erdrutsch-Verlust der CSU". 28 September 2008. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008.
  9. "Die den Stoiber stürzte, 19:05: WDR 5". Archived from the original on 1 July 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  10. "Übersicht". Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  11. "Ulrike MÜLLER - VoteWatch Europe". Votewatch.eu. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  12. "Presse-Detail - FREIE WÄHLER Bundesvereinigung". Freiewaehler.eu. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  13. Online, FOCUS. "Schwerin: Gericke von der Familienpartei wechselt zu Freien Wählern". FOCUS Online (in German). Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  14. "Home | Ulrike MÜLLER | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  15. "Home | Engin EROGLU | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  16. "CoR Members Page".
  17. Osterloh, Maren (15 March 2021). "Alle Wahlkreise, alle Ergebnisse, alle Sieger in Rheinland-Pfalz". Die Welt. Axel Springer SE. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  18. "Bavaria's Free Voters — What you need to know – DW – 10/15/2018". dw.com. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  19. Judy Dempsey (28 September 2008). "As Bavaria goes, so too all of Germany?". The New York Times. The Free Voters, who won 10 percent, want more power to be devolved to the local level. They may be sought as a coalition partner, though their positions on many issues are unclear.
  20. Andranik Tangian (2019). "14: Visualizing the Political Spectrum of Germany by Contiguously Ordering the Party Policy Profiles". In Christos H. Skiadas & James R. Bozeman (ed.). Data Analysis and Applications 2: Utilization of Results in Europe and Other Topics. Vol. 3. Wiley. ISBN 9781119579533. FREIE WAHLER (Free Voters) founded in 2009, a party of opposition the EU financial policy;
  21. Laurenz Gehrke (27 August 2021). "The thorn in conservative Germany's side". Politico.
  22. EU Elections in Germany: which minor parties will make it?, Europe Elects, May 11, 2019.
  23. "The thorn in conservative Germany's side". POLITICO. 27 August 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
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