A German liberal party, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), is facing the possibility of disqualification from the upcoming federal election in Germany after a complaint was filed with various state election authorities. The complaint, submitted by a party member, alleges that the party’s list of candidates in 14 state associations did not meet the necessary requirements.
According to the complaint, the party’s delegates should have written the names of the candidates on a blank ballot paper instead of using pre-printed ballot papers with a cross to mark the chosen candidate. This, the complainant argues, could lead to the identification of voters after the election, as the ballot papers could be matched with the voters’ identities.
The complaint also points out that the party’s conventions often did not have separate voting booths, and the delegates sat close together, making the voting process not secret. Furthermore, the complainant claims that the party sometimes tried to assign ballot papers to specific voters, as seen in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the same group of people were sent to collect ballots in the same order, allowing the verification of whether all regional associations were in line.
The FDP’s new federal executive director, Maria Wandel, has rejected the complaint, stating that the state lists meet all legal requirements and that the party is willing to be reviewed by the election committees. The party cites several court rulings that explicitly allow the handwritten filling out of ballot papers.
The election committees in the states will make a decision on the admissibility of the state lists on Friday, and if the lists are declared invalid, the federal election committee will make a final decision on January 30. In the worst-case scenario, the FDP could be prevented from participating in the federal election in the affected states, which would be a significant blow to the party, already struggling to reach the 5% threshold in opinion polls.