Roderich Egeler
President of the Federal Statistical Office
Press release August 14, 2009
Statement of the Federal Returning Officer on “Die PARTEI“
WIESBADEN – With regard to media enquiries relating to the non-recognition of the “Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative (Die PARTEI)“ for the election to the 17th German Bundestag, the Federal Returning Officer is making the correspondence with “Die PARTEI“ transparent to the public by means of the following overview:
By letter of 22 January 2009, “Die PARTEI“ announced its intended participation in the Bundestag election. In a letter sent by recorded delivery on 26 January 2009, the Federal Returning Officer pointed out that the notice of participation had formal defects and asked for correction. It was also mentioned in the letter that the binding decision on the recognition as a party for the election to the 17th German Bundestag would be taken by the Federal Electoral Committee on 17 July 2009. “Die PARTEI“ was therefore asked to submit information, among others, on the total number of its members, on the number and type of its regional branches and on its appearance in public. The legal adviser of “Die PARTEI“ confirmed receipt of that letter by recorded delivery slip on 30 January 2009.
Shortly afterwards, there were two reactions on the part of “Die PARTEI“:
By fax of 4 February 2009, the legal adviser provided information about the election of the executive committee of the Land branch of Nordrhein-Westfalen.
A corrected notice of participation was submitted by letter of 5 February 2009.
After its documents had been included in the collection of the Federal Returning Officer in 2005, “Die PARTEI“ had not provided further information on existing Land branches and their executive committees although being obliged to do so by Section 6 (3) of the Party Law. Therefore, the collection of documents was updated on the basis of the fax of 4 February 2009, and one Land branch was listed for “Die PARTEI“. The party was informed about this fact by letter of 9 April 2009 and was sent a copy of the updated version. “Die PARTEI“ did not react to that.
At the meeting of the Federal Executive Committee on 17 July 2009, the representative of “Die PARTEI“ claimed that there were several Land branches. When asked he was not able to give any specific information on the Land branches and thus could not explain the inconsistency of his statement with the fax message of 4 February 2009. When the Federal Electoral Committee enquired about other criteria decisive for being recognised as a political party, he did not supply any plausible information either.
Considering all criteria on the basis of the overall picture of the current situation according to Section 2 of the Party Law, the Federal Electoral Committee unanimously decided on 17 July 2009 not to recognise “Die PARTEI“ as a political party for the election to the 17th German Bundestag .
Upon request, the Federal Returning Officer has today supplied a copy of the fax of 4 February 2009 to the Chairman and the legal adviser of „Die PARTEI“.
For further information please contact:
Karina Schorn,
tel: (+49-611) 75-2317,
e-mail: bundeswahlleiter@destatis.de