The Blue Party (Germany)

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This article discusses The Blue Party, which was founded in 2017. For the fictional party of the carnival speaker Toni Geller, see there.

The blue party (short name Blaue #TeamPetry) was a German micro party and was initiated in 2017 by the then AfD spokesperson Frauke Petry. It was represented in the German Bundestag, several state parliaments, and the European Parliament through party defections of elected officials.

The Blue Party was only conceived as a necessary legal entity of the Bürgerforum Blaue Wende in order to be allowed to run in elections with party status in accordance with German party law. The aim of the Blaue Wende project was to get more people in Germany involved in the political decision-making process again (participation), who did not feel sufficiently addressed by the existing party structures and offers. The aim of the project "Blaue Wende/Blaue Partei" was therefore to activate citizens for the democratic processes in Germany and to enable more direct access to expertise from society and science in parliamentary work.

In early November 2019, the party congress decided to dissolve the party at the end of the year.

Concept of the "Blue Turn" Citizens' Forum

The main objective of the Bürgerforum Blaue Wende was to increase the involvement of the general public in political decision-making processes. The basic philosophy was based on the desire for a balanced representation of all affected parties in the preparation and decision-making process. In particular, this included voices and opinions which were no longer (sufficiently) heard through established party work, and the hurdles of typical party work had led to the exclusion of intelligible positions from science and society. For this purpose, politically interested people were able to participate in discussion forums independent of political membership and to cast compiled political demands into an election program. This participatory programme then became the basis for the Blue Party and the political activities of its regional associations. Within the framework of the citizens' forum, participating citizens were also able to get onto the corresponding state lists of the state associations, in order to represent the elaborated programs in the sense of the citizens' forum in the event of an election success.

History

Foundation

Formally, the party was founded a week before the 2017 federal election by Michael Muster, a lawyer and longtime confidant of Petry, and registered with the Federal Election Commissioner on September 26, 2017. Muster is the husband of former Saxon state parliament member Kirsten Muster, who, like Petry, resigned from the Saxon AfD parliamentary group. The reasons given for leaving the party were the AfD's drift to the right, post-hunting, and the problematic human interaction within the party's leadership.

In November 2017, a citizens' forum called Blaue Wende was founded. There, the possibility existed to get involved regardless of party affiliation, with the party thereby primarily fulfilling the purpose of being allowed to run in elections. In what form the open citizens' forums and the formally organized party should be connected remained open. On 14 October 2017, Petry confirmed that she would join the party "soon".

Petry had already registered an internet address "dieblauen.de" in July 2017, but explained when asked that it was only an "idea". Later she said that the new party would not bear such a name.

As of September 2018, the Thuringian state association was led by former state executive committee member and district chairman of the CDU Thuringia Jens Krautwurst.

Supraregional elections

The Blue Party did not run in the 2019 European elections. In this regard, it was speculated that the party could not collect the 4000 signatures required for a candidacy.

The party contested the 2019 state election in Saxony for the first time. The top candidate was Frauke Petry. The party received 7786 votes, which corresponds to a share of 0.4% of the valid votes.

In the 2019 state election in Thuringia, the party received 857 of the state's votes, representing 0.1% of the valid votes.

Resolution

The party leader Petry declared on 5 November 2019 that the party would dissolve by the end of the year. This decision was justified by the poor results in the state elections in the same year: Neither in Saxony nor in Thuringia the party managed to enter the parliaments. The decision to dissolve the party was taken at the members' party conference in Döben, a district of Grimma.

Questions and Answers

Q: When was The Blue Party formed in Germany?


A: The Blue Party was formed on 17 September 2017.

Q: Did The Blue Party dissolve or is it still active in Germany?


A: The Blue Party dissolved in 2019.

Q: What was the reason behind the formation of The Blue Party in Germany?


A: The Blue Party split from the AfD after the 2017 election and tried to attract moderate former AfD voters.

Q: What was the ideology of The Blue Party in Germany?


A: The Blue Party was a right-wing conservative party and was eurosceptic (meaning they were critical of the European Union).

Q: Did The Blue Party support unrestricted immigration?


A: No, The Blue Party wanted more restrictions on immigration.

Q: Were the policies of The Blue Party similar to those of the AfD in Germany?


A: Yes, many of the party's policies were similar to those of the AfD.

Q: How long did The Blue Party exist in Germany before dissolving?


A: The Blue Party existed for about two years before dissolving in 2019.

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