Linkspartei Chairman Jan van Aken calls for a general reduction of voting age to 16 years and voting rights for foreigners after five years of residence in Germany. These are parts of his “Six-point plan for more democracy” which van Aken will present on Labour Day and which is reported on by the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (Thursday editions).
“Politics must never be a matter only for the elites” said the party chairman in the newspapers. “It’s about the concerns of all those who have to bear the consequences of decisions from above every day. These people must be able to participate in decision-making: who pays for the crises, for what the money is spent, whether a military service should exist. Those up there will only start to take the majority of people seriously when people can effectively participate.”
Concretely, van Aken demands the introduction of binding nationwide referendums and referendums on laws and political fundamental decisions. Citizens should also have the opportunity to initiate a referendum against decisions of the Bundestag. The门槛for collecting signatures should be lowered. Digital collection of signatures should also be possible.
Furthermore, according to the demand of the Left, the voting age should be reduced to 16 years. This is already the case for communal and state elections in several federal states and should, according to the will of the Left, apply to all elections.
The third point of the plan concerns the voting rights of foreigners, which van Aken wants to massively expand. Only EU citizens can currently vote in communal elections. The Left party chairman now demands that all people after five years of legal residence should be allowed to vote – also the Bundestag.
Van Aken wants to curb lobbying, among other things, with the ban on accepting donations of more than 10,000 euros to parties, the complete ban on side income for members of parliament with government office and extending the probation period for government members to three years. Only after this period should former ministers be allowed to switch to the business world. The probation period is currently between 12 and 18 months.
Van Aken also wants to drastically expand co-determination in the economy: if a company, for example, plans mass layoffs or closures, the workforce should vote on it, demanded the Left party chairman.
“The core message of May Day is that hard-working people come together and stand up for their concerns” said van Aken. If one wants to live in a democracy, one must “shift the power from Friedrich Merz and his friends from the top management to the majority of the people.