Relationship of umbrella organization and party
The executive committee of the umbrella organization (state association, German: ''Landesverband'') and the party (state chapter, German: ''Landesvereinigung'') is identical. However, this must not hide the fact that these are two completely structurally independent organizations. The state association on one hand has voter groups as members and, for data protection (privacy law) reasons, may not even know the names of the members of the local voter groups. On the other hand, the members of the party are natural persons. Membership in a local voter group is not a requirement for membership in the party. In addition, only a small proportion of members from the voter groups become members of the party. In order to avoid a competitive relationship between the voter groups and the party, the party does not stand for election at municipal and district level, although the possibility is provided for in its statute. In Bavaria, the lowest organizational level of the party is the district chapter as local chapters currently do not exist. The Bavarian state chapter (Landesvereinigung Bayern) does not use the blue-yellow logo of the federal party, but the green-orange logo of the state association. Even in public relations, the Free Voters of Bavaria usually do not distinguish between state association and state chapter.Umbrella organization
Since the 1950s, independent voter groups were formed by citizens of Bavaria at the municipal and district levels. These groups took part in local elections as an alternative to the established parties with their own, independent candidates. Numerous such municipal and district groups founded the umbrella organization of the Bavarian State Association of Free and Independent Voters (self designated FREIE WÄHLER, also abbreviated FW) in 1978, in order to agree on common goals and strategies. Currently, around 870 municipal and district voter groups are organized in the umbrella organization. The state association is a member of the Federal Association of Free Voters Germany. It has no election program and therefore does not run in elections.Organization of the umbrella organization
The FW Landesverband Bayern is divided into bezirk (regional) associations. Even if the statute and association distinguish district and local associations, these do not exist as a subdivision of the state association but are completely independent voter groups. Not all local voter groups organized in the association necessarily have to be members of a voter group at the district level. Legally, these are two independent memberships. In a community, more than one voter group can be a member of the state association. Voter groups organized in the association do not have to carry Free Voters or the abbreviation FW in their club names. This can cause misunderstandings as other voter groups, who are not members of the state association, can also call themselves Free Voters.Participation in local elections
Voter groups are traditionally strongly represented at the municipal and district levels in Bavaria. In the municipal elections of 2008, they achieved 19% of the vote across Bavaria, making them the third largest group behind theParty
In the mid-1990s, the goal was to run for the Bavarian state parliament as part of the umbrella organization of the Free Voters. Since election proposals under the Bavarian State Electoral Law can only be submitted by political parties and voters' associations, not by an umbrella organization, in 1997, members of the local voter groups founded the association FW Freie Wähler Bayern e. V. with the aim of participating in the bezirk (regional) and state elections in Bavaria. It went on, as Landesvereinigung Bayern, to become the party Free Voters (Bundesvereinigung) in 2011. The purpose of the Landesvereinigung FREIE WÄHLER Bayern is, according to its statute, "participation at the political levels of the municipalities, bezirk (regional), state, federal government and Europe" (Article 1 (5)).Organization of the state chapter (party)
According to its statute, the organs of the state chapter are the executive committee, the extended executive committee, and the delegate assembly. The executive committee of the state chapter consists of the state chairman, four equal deputies, the chairman of the "JUNGE FREIE WÄHLER Bayern", the treasurer, the legal clerk, and eight assessors. The same people work for the State association as well. The party is subdivided into state, bezirk (regional), and district chapters.Participation in bezirk (regional) and state elections
The decision to take part in state elections was made in 1997 at a state delegates' meeting by a narrow majority and subsequently legitimized by a membership poll. Nevertheless, the decision to take part in parliamentary elections was, and is still, controversial within the voter groups. The advocates pointed out, as in other states, that the rules for the municipalities are made in the state. However, some voter groups withdrew from the umbrella organization or announced that they would not support its candidacy due to this decision. Critics said that the Free Voters would leave their actual communal field of activity. According to the party law, the Free Voters would receive the characterization of a party by participating in the state election. Even if the new organization decided to call itself a voter group, an "alternative to the parties" and (according to the first statute of 7 June 1997)only included non-partisan citizens as members, it still approached the status of a party in terms of membership, organization, statutes and political objectives. In 2011, this step was formally completed: on 15 December 2011, FREIE WÄHLER Bayern e. V. integrated itself as "Landesvereinigung Bayern" into a newly founded, nationwide acting party "FREIE WÄHLER."HNAlElection results
Landtag of Bavaria
Bezirkstags
Positions
In their substantive positions, the Free Voters are in the political centre. They are not especially close to any of the established parties, but represent, depending on the topic, some classical liberal (strengthening of civil and human rights, SME promotion, public budget discipline), conservative (increase staff of the security forces, stricter border controls, more deportations of rejected asylum seekers and less family reunification for refugees in Germany, drug control, promoting local traditions and dialects), partly social liberal (state general interest, equal opportunities in education, housing promotion) or ecologically alternative goals (energy policy, water management). This has often lead the Free Voters to be accused of arbitrariness or populism; they justify their lack of a clear position in the party landscape by the need to operate a pragmatic policy beyond ideological determinations. They therefore emphasize their interest in cross-party cooperation and demand no closed voting behavior from their representatives in the Bavarian state parliament, according to their own statements (parliamentary discipline). At their core the Free Voters are fundamentally a coalition of independents, organized together for elections, which accounts for their ideological diversity. Priority areas in Bavarian state policy since 2008 are the education and university policy (abolition of tuition fees and the extension of high school to nine years (abolition of the G8, or eight-year high school)), the promotion of renewable energies, the opposition of major projects (third runway ofEU policy
Ulrike Müller is the Free Voters’ first and currently only Member of Parliament in theFunding and political donations
Like all German parties that reach the required threshold (1% of votes cast in the case of parliamentary elections), the Free Voters receive a certain allocated amount of funding from the state that subsidizes their finances and costs. The amount received is dependent upon the total number of votes a party earned in the past election, which amounts to €0.85 for the first four million votes and €0.70 for all subsequent votes thereafter. These funds are used to supplement the money that parties receive from their member's contributions and subscription fees, as well as any political donations they may receive from private individuals, organizations, or firms. The Free Voters, unlike other parties in the Bavarian Parliament (German: Landtag) and in the German Federal Parliament (German: Bundestag), do not accept donations from corporations or businesses, as this conflicts with their grassroots origins and direct democracy ideals. Hubert Aiwanger, party leader of the Free Voters, has gone on record saying, "Party donations should be prohibited, state party financing is sufficient."Education policy
The Free Voters advocate a transfer of sovereignty of educational qualification certification and school educational standards from the state level to the federal level in order to standardize educational practices and criteria across Germany. They wish for the Ministry of Education and Research to be supplemented by a school department. This new group would oversee the various responsibilities that creating and managing an interstate standardization of educational qualifications and standards would entail. The Secretary General of the Free Voters, Steffen Große, stated:“We do not want to deprive the federal states of their responsibility towards schools. In the interests of all parents and students, we want a reliable and fair framework from theThe Free Voters advocated for a return to a version of the traditional G9 system for Gymnasium (a type of German secondary school). Prior to the early 2000s this form of Gymnasium was predominant and stipulated that a pupil should attend secondary education for 9 years (13 years of education total). However, after the mid-2000s, strong political pressure mounted to reduce the time spent in Gymnasium. Currently, most students nationwide only attend Gymnasium for 8 years (referred to as G8, for a total of 12 years of schooling). Under the Free Voter's proposed policy, the G9 would be restored throughout Bavaria. The argued advantages of such a system are that it would allow pupils an extra year to prepare for the state standardized leaving examination (German:North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...to theBavarian Alps The Bavarian Alps (german: Bayerische Alpen) is a collective name for several mountain ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps within the German state of Bavaria. Geography The term in its wider sense refers to that part of the Eastern Alps tha ...and from theSaar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name * Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist * Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), E ...to Frankfurt / Oder. Different standards and ratings are highly unfair for the children and parents. The Education Ministers of the federal states have failed in the past decades to make joint agreements that ensure sufficient comparability”.
Energy and environment policy
The Free Voters upon entering into aEconomic and fiscal policy
Owing to their origins as local community and political organizations, the Free Voters’ economic policy focuses much of its attention towards "strengthening the rural affairs", says Aiwanger. This means increased attention by the state on the rural and agricultural sectors of the economy. They propose extending and expanding services in rural areas by protecting preexisting hospitals and birth clinics, while also erecting new ones. They again want to make nurseries free, which would ease the financial burden on families. "No topic can be too small", explained Aiwanger. The Free Voters organized a successful referendum, whereby they abolished road improvement contribution taxes (German: Straßenausbaubeiträge, shortened to Strab), a type of tax levied on the homeowners of a street which would be used to pay for the street's maintenance.Migration and asylum policy
Despite disagreeing with the Merkel government's handling of the European migrant crisis, the Free Voters are not against accepting refugees and asylum seekers, and advocate for their smooth and timely integration into Germany. The party opposes the year-long ban imposed on refugees upon their arrival to Germany, arguing that it hinders integration, "One should look at the individual", says Aiwanger. This policy extends into education as well, where the integration of refugees into job education programs and other forms of education is an important topic for the Free Voters’ education policy. Their criticism of the Merkel government's handling of the issue stems from their skepticism of economic migrants, whom they see as not having valid reasons to seek refuge, and as such should be humanely returned to their home countries. Those who are fleeing violence and persecution, however, should be quickly integrate into society, while also combating the causes of their flight.Freie Wähler Bayern. ''Positionen zum Thema Asyl, Flüchtlinge und Migration der FREIEN WÄHLER Bayern.'' accessed May 24, 2019, https://www.freie-waehler-bayern.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Dokumente/FREIE_WAEHLER_Positionspapier_Asyl.pdf The Free Voters also argue for the introduction of a points-based merit system for immigration based on theReferences
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