June 2020

In his contribution in "Recht und Politik", Daniel Hellmann examines the decision-making practice of the Federal Election Committee concerning the admission of parties to the 2017 federal elections. From this, he derives threshold values as of when it is possible to speak of a party. In particular, the existence of state associations and at least 40 members were prerequisites for determining party status.

How realistic would an alliance of CDU and AfD be in Eastern German state parliaments? Benjamin Höhne pursues this question in the current issue of GWP. Different pro- and contra-arguments are weighed up, also using data from a party member study (#BuKa2017). A strategy of appropriation by the CDU vis-à-vis AfD would be highly risky because it could not be led from a position of strength.

Danny Schindlers article at Party Politics investigates the potential implications of different procedures by examining how the selection criteria of membership
and delegate conferences vary.