AfD on democracy and the state

The AfD wants to strengthen direct democracy in Brandenburg by lowering the number of signatures needed for popular initiatives and petitions for a referendum. It argues that no statewide referendum has taken place since the state constitution was adopted.

The AfD wants citizens to vote on more issues. Fewer signatures should be needed for this. Brandenburg has never had a statewide referendum. The AfD wants to change that.

A popular initiative would need 10,000 signatures and a petition for a referendum 20,000. The list of topics excluded from direct votes would be shortened. The cost estimate required for local citizens' petitions, which the program sees as an obstacle, would no longer stand in the way. The AfD also wants to introduce direct democracy at the level of individual districts within a municipality, because residents of a single district in rural areas struggle to gather enough supporters.

The AfD wants every amendment to the state constitution to be put to a vote of the people. It points out that the constitution is the foundation of the state's order.

The constitution is the most important law in the state. The AfD wants citizens to vote on every change to it. The state parliament should not decide this alone.

Amendments to the state constitution would only be possible with a mandatory popular vote. The program cites Bavaria and Hesse as models, where this requirement already exists. In the AfD's view there is no reason to deny people in Brandenburg this right.

The AfD wants to let citizens vote on laws already passed by the state parliament and to amend or reject them. Without that option, the program says, policy can be made against the will of the majority.

The state parliament passes laws. The AfD wants citizens to be able to vote on them afterward. That way they can change or stop a law.

An optional referendum is a popular vote that citizens can demand after parliament has passed a law. The program names Switzerland as its model, where citizens can call for a vote within 100 days after certain parliamentary decisions are published. The AfD sees the lack of such a tool as contradicting the idea of rule by the people.

The AfD wants to scrap the rule that a directly elected district administrator (Landrat) needs the votes of at least 15 percent of all eligible voters. If that threshold is missed, the district council decides today, which the AfD says can override the voters' will.

Citizens elect the district administrator directly. Today the winner needs votes from 15 percent of all eligible voters. Otherwise the district council decides. The AfD wants to end this rule.

Today, if the quorum is missed, the district council can choose a different candidate than the voters did. The program sees this as a threat to trust in democracy. It notes that federal and state elections are valid without any minimum turnout. The citizens' vote should count in every case.

The AfD wants to dissolve the state's Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency) unless it can be reformed to focus on what the party sees as its real task. It accuses the other parties of using the agency against the opposition, and against the AfD in particular.

The Verfassungsschutz is a domestic intelligence agency. The AfD wants to close it down in Brandenburg. That applies if it cannot be reformed. The AfD says the agency is used against the opposition.

According to the program, the agency should only stop acts that endanger the state, for example by Islamist organizations. It should neither judge citizens' convictions nor interfere in how parties form their positions. The AfD speaks of the agency being misused to shield the government from criticism. In the preface, the lead candidate announces its abolition without any condition.

The AfD wants to make the legal rules on opposition rights so precise that they cannot be circumvented. It complains that it is being denied posts in parliaments and public funds.

The opposition means the parties that do not govern. The AfD wants to define their rights more exactly in law. No one should be able to get around these rights. The AfD says it is denied posts and money.

The program calls the right to vote and freedom of speech the basis of democracy. In the AfD's view, extending voting rights to foreigners and the state intelligence agency's actions against the opposition run counter to this. The party sees the will of citizens disregarded when it is denied parliamentary offices or funds.

The AfD wants to end postal voting without a specific reason. It considers it vulnerable to manipulation and says it undermines the equality of the vote because not everyone votes on the same day.

The AfD wants to end postal voting without a reason. It says postal votes are easier to tamper with. People who cannot come on election day should still be able to vote. Mobile polling stations should make that possible.

The program points to rising postal voting rates and calls this constitutionally questionable. It names the long storage of ballots in offices and influence on voters, for example in nursing homes, as risks. The AfD cites the Federal Constitutional Court as having said that postal voting must remain an exception. Mobile polling stations would let people who cannot reach a polling place cast their vote.

The AfD wants to cut the number of state lawmakers from 88 to 60 and the number of electoral districts from 44 to 30. It justifies this by comparison with other states, where each lawmaker represents more residents.

The state parliament has 88 seats today. The AfD wants only 60 seats. The number of electoral districts should also go down. The AfD says parliament can still work well.

According to the program, the national average is 42,000 residents per state lawmaker, compared with 28,400 in Brandenburg. With 60 seats and 30 districts, the AfD believes parliament would remain able to function.

The AfD calls for significantly more staff in all branches of the judiciary and for courts close to where people live. Access to justice should not fail because of long distances.

The AfD wants more staff for the courts. Courts should be close to where people live. Nobody should give up their rights because the court is too far away.

More positions are planned for judges, prosecutors and judicial officers, as well as for the support staff who keep courts running. This applies to civil and criminal courts as well as labor and administrative courts. The program criticizes that courts were closed or downgraded to branch offices to save money. The court network should be as close to citizens as possible.

The AfD wants to create a municipal chamber through which counties and independent cities have a say in state legislation. In the party's view, local politicians know conditions on the ground best.

The AfD wants a new chamber for cities and counties. There they would have a say in state laws. The model is the Bundesrat. In the Bundesrat, the German states have a say in national laws.

The chamber is meant to strengthen local self-government considerably. The program names the Bundesrat, which represents the states vis-à-vis the Bundestag, as its model. The proposal is part of the AfD's goal of giving rural regions more attention in state politics compared with the area around Berlin.

The AfD wants to review, renegotiate, and if necessary terminate the interstate treaties with Berlin. The joint state development plan is to be reformed so that municipalities can decide more freely on residential and commercial zones and gain more financial leeway.

Brandenburg has many treaties with Berlin. The AfD says these treaties mostly help Berlin. It wants to check them and negotiate new ones. Towns should decide more for themselves about building land. They should also get more money.

In the platform's view, joint planning and the related treaty constrain municipalities financially and in their zoning, while Berlin benefits disproportionately. The AfD rejects further treaties that make Brandenburg land available for Berlin's growth and does not want to give energy installations such as wind turbines preferential treatment. It calls for an immediate state-municipal program to develop building land and a stronger role for municipalities in land policy. It also criticizes that roughly 250 million euros earmarked for local transit sit unused in state accounts.

The AfD wants to amend the municipal charges act so that affected residents can jointly bring test-case lawsuits against charge notices. This is meant to make court review easier while reducing the number of proceedings.

Residents sometimes get bills for high road charges. Many cannot afford to sue alone. The AfD wants people to be able to sue together. One ruling then serves as a model for all.

According to the platform, property owners repeatedly face demands for development and road upgrades that they cannot follow. Individuals often lack the money to have the notices reviewed in court. In the AfD's view, test cases would also relieve municipalities and the courts. It says the current situation disturbs legal peace and strains relations between residents and local government.

The AfD wants to cut state money for associations and initiatives that work against right-wing extremism or for gender, diversity and migration, and to end all climate-related measures. It justifies this with the state's duty of neutrality and the need for funds for other tasks.

The AfD wants to stop giving state money to certain associations. This affects projects against the right, and on gender, diversity and migration. Money for climate measures should also be dropped. The money should go to schools, roads and families.

The alliance Aktionsbündnis Tolerantes Brandenburg is explicitly named as one that should no longer receive funds. In the AfD's view, the government uses such funding to fight the opposition at taxpayers' expense. The party wants to save spending on irregular migration through remigration, meaning the return of migrants. A grants database modeled on Berlin's is to disclose all payments to associations, projects and initiatives, and all funded organizations are to be reviewed. The AfD wants to use the freed-up money for education, infrastructure, social benefits, families and health care.