The Free Voters of Bavaria (German: Freie Wähler Bayern) is a conservative political party in Bavaria. It has served as part of the governing coalition there since the 2018 state election under the leading Christian Social Union. The term "Free Voters" is also applied to the various independent voter groups common in Bavarian municipal and district elections. The name Free Voters of Bavaria applies to both the Bavarian State Association of Free and Independent Voters (seat: Munich), an umbrella organization of Free Voter groups, as well as the Bavarian state chapter of the nationwide party Free Voters (). The two groups exist simultaneously under the same name due to Bavarian election law not allowing umbrella organizations to run for office, thus the state party Free Voters of Bavaria was founded in 1997 in order to participate in the Bavarian state elections.
Due to the party's origins as an organization of independent politicians seeking alternatives to the established parties, the Free Voters are loosely organized and have no standardized ideology among its members. They stand as a centre-right party and often focus on local issues and local politics, as a consequence of their advocacy for more direct-democratic measures. The Free Voters of Bavaria are led by Hubert Aiwanger, who has been the party leader since 2018, and who currently serves as a Deputy Minister-President of Bavaria.
Relationship of umbrella organization and party The executive committee of the umbrella organization (state association, German: Landesverband) and that of the party (state chapter, German: Landesvereinigung) is identical. However, this should not obscure the fact that these are two entirely independent organizations in terms of structure.
The state association comprises voter groups as members and, due to data protection laws, may not even know the names of individual members within those local groups. In contrast, the party's members are natural persons, and joining a local voter group is not a prerequisite for party membership. Moreover, only a small portion of individuals from the voter groups choose to join the party. + Executive committee of the Freie Wähler Landesverbandand the Freie Wähler Landesvereinigung State Chairman Hubert Aiwanger Deputy State Chairman Armin Kroder Ulrike Müller Michael Piazolo Simson Hipp General Secretary Michael Piazolo Young Free Voters Chairman Felix Locke Treasurer Edgar Klüpfel Legal Clerk Georg Meiski Assessors Schwaben Leopold Herz Oberfranken Peter Dorscht Unterfranken Hans Jürgen Fahn Oberbayern Christine Degenhart Mittelfranken Peter Bauer Oberpfalz Manuela Koller Niederbayern Heinrich Schmidt München Felix Stahl
To avoid a competitive relationship between the voter groups and the party, the party does not participate in municipal and district elections, even though its statute permits it. In Bavaria, the party's lowest organizational level 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 instead uses the green-orange logo of the state association. Even in public communications, the Free Voters of Bavaria generally do not distinguish between the state association and the 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.Satzung FW-Landesverband Bayern 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.
Bezirksverband Vorsitzender Mittelfranken Walter Schnell Niederbayern Heinrich Schmidt Oberbayern Eva Gottstein Oberfranken Klaus Förster Oberpfalz Tanja Schweiger Schwaben Bernhard Pohl, MdL Unterfranken Günther Felbinger
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 the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).Statistisches Landesamt Bayern Kommunalwahlen in Bayern am 2. March 2008 However, only a fraction of these voter groups are organized in the State Association of Free Voters. Currently, 10 (out of 71) district chief executives come from within the ranks of the voter groups organized in the association.
It is possible that several voter groups organized in the association could compete against each other in the same election. This is possible because the voter groups act autonomously and there is no election program from the state association. Although the Bezirk (regions) in Bavaria count as the municipal level, no voter groups compete in elections on this level.
Party 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,§ 23 -24 LWG (Gesetz über Landtagswahl, Volksbegehren und Volksentscheid) in der Fassung der Bekanntmachung vom 5. Juli 2002 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,Satzung der Landesvereinigung FREIE WÄHLER Bayern e. 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. District Association ChairmanMünchenMichael PiazoloMittelfrankenWalter SchnellNiederbayernHeinrich SchmidtOberbayernEva GottsteinOberfrankenKlaus FörsterOberpfalzTanja SchweigerSchwaben Markus BremUnterfrankenHans Jürgen Fahn
Participation in 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,Satzung der organisierten Wählergruppe (PDF; 414 kB) "FW Freie Wähler Bayern e. it still approached the status of a party in terms of membership, organization, statutes and political objectives.Abgrenzung siehe Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: Wegbeschreibung für die kommunale Praxis. 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."HNAl.www.freie-waehler-deutschland.de. Its founding had become necessary in order to participate in federal elections. This decision was also especially controversial within its own ranks and in scientific discussions. Voices within those discussions saw negative repercussions in the party's successes within local politics and on the self-image of the Free Voters as an ideology-free alternative to the established parties.Ulrich Eith: Ideologiefreie Sachpolitik oder populistischer Protest?
The FW entered the Bavarian state election in 1998 for the first time and got 3.7% of the vote. In the 2003 election, its voter share slightly increased to 4.0%. Despite this gain the FW's missed entry into the state parliament due to the five percent threshold. In the 2008 state election, the Free Voters finally received 10.2% of the vote and 21 representatives in the state legislature, forming the parliament's third strongest force after the CDU and SDP. In the 2013 state election, the Free Voters defended its third place with 9.0% of the vote and 19 representatives from the party Alliance 90/The Greens Bavaria, which received 18 seats. Since 1998, the FW voter group has participated in bezirk (regional) parliament elections, which take place simultaneously with the state elections. Since there is no five percent threshold on this level, the Free Voters entered several bezirk (regional) parliaments. In the 1998 elections they won a total of 9 seats and in 2003 10 seats. In the 2008 and 2013 elections the Free Voters won 24 and 21 seats respectively.
The Free Voters of Bavaria formed a new government with the CSU after 2018 Bavarian state election on 14 October 2018.
Policy positions