AfD on democracy and the state

The AfD wants to expand direct democracy at the state and local level and lower the thresholds for popular initiatives, petitions for a referendum, and referendums. The platform considers the current rules ineffective because the thresholds are so high.

The AfD wants more public votes in Lower Saxony. Fewer signatures should be needed. Citizens should also be able to vote on budget questions. Switzerland is the model.

A popular initiative would need 60,000 signatures instead of 70,000, and a petition for a referendum 2.5 percent of eligible voters instead of 10 percent. The AfD rejects the rule that 25 percent of all eligible voters must approve a referendum, arguing that state elections have no minimum turnout either. The rules would apply without exception, including to budget matters. Referendums would be mandatory for constitutional amendments and for any transfer or return of sovereign powers. The platform cites Switzerland, where citizens have a say or a veto, as its model.

The AfD wants to expand municipal self-government and keep tasks at the lowest possible level. In the platform's view, municipalities are increasingly being overruled by the state, the federal government, and the EU.

The AfD wants towns to decide more on their own. The state, the federal government and the EU should set fewer rules. Citizens should have a say locally. Small groups in local councils should get more rights again.

Local councils and citizens would get a say in all matters that directly affect municipalities or counties. Citizens would decide which services they pay for and with how much tax money. A task would move to a higher level only if most of the affected citizens benefit, and the transfer could be reversed. For smaller groups in local councils, the AfD calls for an opposition supplement and a return to the Hare/Niemeyer method for filling committee seats, which was replaced in 2021.

The AfD wants a strict separation of the three branches of government. Members of the government would no longer be lawmakers at the same time, and parties would lose their influence over appointing judges and prosecutors.

The AfD wants to clearly separate government, parliament and courts. Ministers should not also vote in parliament. Parties should no longer pick judges. Prosecutors should not take orders from politicians.

Office and seat would be separated: members of the state government could not be voting members of the state parliament. The judiciary would govern itself more, through a judicial selection committee and a judicial administration council based on a model by the Deutscher Richterbund (German Judges Association). Prosecutors would no longer be bound by instructions from above. The AfD wants to undo and permanently prevent any mixing of the branches.

The AfD wants voters in state elections to be able to pile up votes on candidates and split them across lists, as in local elections. Lawmakers elected via party lists would serve no more than four terms.

The AfD wants to change how the state parliament is elected. Voters should be able to spread votes across single candidates. Lawmakers from party lists should stay for four terms at most. Fewer civil servants should sit in parliament.

Cumulative voting means giving one candidate several votes; vote splitting means spreading votes across candidates from different lists. The four-term limit is meant to prevent cronyism, entrenched networks, and lobbying, and would not apply to directly elected lawmakers. The AfD also wants to use a clause in the state constitution that allows a cap on how many public-sector employees can be elected. The platform argues that only they can put their jobs on hold, which has filled parliaments with civil servants.

The AfD wants to limit public funding of parties and reduce the number of state lawmakers. In the party's view, parliament must not serve to provide for party members.

The AfD wants parties to get less money from the state. The state parliament should become smaller. Voters should decide on lawmakers' pay.

The cap would cover both direct and indirect funding, including campaign cost reimbursements and party foundations. Voters would decide on changes to these and to lawmakers' pay in a vote held alongside a state election. The AfD opposes any further increase in the size of the state parliament.

The AfD wants all jobs in the civil service and in publicly controlled companies to be advertised openly. Party membership, gender, age, and ethnicity should play no part in the selection.

The AfD wants the state to advertise all its jobs openly. Everyone should be able to check the selection. An applicant's party should not matter. Gender, age and origin should not count either.

The platform cites the Basic Law, which guarantees every German equal access to public office. The rule would apply especially to leadership positions. Appointments would have to be transparent and verifiable.

The AfD wants to curb the influence of interest groups on state lawmakers and introduce stricter anti-corruption rules. Secret ballots in the state parliament would also become possible to prevent enforced party-line voting.

The AfD wants lobby groups to have less influence on lawmakers. Lawmakers should disclose their side jobs. Secret votes should be possible in the state parliament. That way lawmakers can decide freely.

Lawmakers would be bound by the same corruption-prevention rules as state administration staff. They would have to report conflicts of interest and list side jobs in a register. The AfD considers enforced party-line voting unconstitutional, so a parliamentary group could request a secret ballot. For draft laws, it would be publicly recorded which interest groups or experts took part in writing them.

The AfD wants new laws to apply only for a limited time at first. Only after a review of whether they work and are proportionate could they be passed permanently.

The AfD wants new laws to apply only for a set time at first. Then someone should check whether they work. Only then should they apply for good. This should keep government simpler.

The platform argues that new laws usually bring further regulations and rules with them, making administration ever more complex. The review would look at effectiveness and proportionality in light of the law's goal. The AfD also favors a lean state under the rule of law.

The AfD wants to bind public authorities to fixed deadlines: if an office does not decide in time, an application would count as approved automatically. Rules are also to be reviewed and scrapped, planning procedures shortened and the administration further digitized.

Public offices often take a long time to decide. The AfD wants fixed deadlines for offices. If an office misses the deadline, the request counts as approved. Many rules should go. Offices should work more digitally.

Objections to official decisions should generally be possible without going to court, and new arbitration bodies are meant to relieve the administrative courts. The AfD wants all rules, such as those on trade supervision, fire safety and documentation duties, reviewed, slimmed down and scrapped where possible. Building and planning law would be simplified so that spatial planning and permit procedures finish within a few months. Public construction projects should be run professionally without constant political intervention. The program also calls for more digital public services, free information for citizens and high-performance mobile and data networks.

The AfD wants fewer administrative levels and agencies in Lower Saxony and wants to abolish the Ministry for Federal and European Affairs and Regional Development. Municipalities are to gain more autonomy, and responsibility for grants is to be clearly assigned.

The AfD wants fewer public offices in Lower Saxony. One ministry should be closed completely. It deals with Europe and the regions. Towns and cities should decide more on their own.

The ministry, founded in 2017, would be dropped without replacement because the AfD believes other ministries already cover its tasks. The remaining ministries should draw down all available EU funds as long as Germany pays into the EU. For each funding purpose, only one designated authority would be allowed to issue approvals. The party rejects state interference in local self-government.

The AfD wants state agencies to no longer be led by political appointees. Positions in the public service should be filled on qualifications alone.

Some heads of public offices get their job through politics. The AfD wants to end this. Only skill should count. Party, gender or origin should play no role.

"Political civil servants" are senior officials who can be placed in temporary retirement at any time. According to the program, they are often installed as police chiefs or senior public prosecutors without being professionally suited. The AfD demands a complete end to this type of appointment for heads of state agencies.

Municipal companies that provide basic public services should only be privatized if local citizens agree. Any privatization should also be time-limited or reversible.

Some town-owned companies serve everyone, for example with water. The AfD wants local citizens to decide on any sale. A sale should only last for a set time. Or the town should be able to take the company back.

The program gives special weight to municipal infrastructure companies that provide basic public services. Any privatization must come with a time limit or a right to transfer the company back. The AfD announces resistance if EU rules or international trade agreements restrict this local self-determination.

The AfD wants to change assembly law so that counter-demonstrations may no longer take place in the immediate vicinity of political events. Anyone taking part in blockades or violent demonstrations should face noticeable punishment.

The AfD wants to change the law on protests. Counter-protests should not be close to a political event. People there should not see or hear them. People who join blockades should be punished hard.

The program justifies the demand with threats, violence, and discrimination it says AfD activists face. In the party's view, blocked marches and disrupted campaign events prevent equal participation in political debate. Counter-protests should therefore stay out of sight and earshot. The AfD demands severe penalties for taking part in blockades and violent protests.

The AfD wants political parties to have no more influence on appointing judges and prosecutors. The judiciary would govern itself more, through a judicial selection committee and a judicial administration council.

The AfD wants independent judges and prosecutors. Parties should have no say in choosing them. Only ability and performance should count. The courts should manage themselves more.

Judgeships would be filled solely on the basis of aptitude, qualifications, and professional performance. In the program's view, the current procedure via the justice ministry allows appointments based on party affiliation. Constitutional courts and audit offices in particular should be shielded from such influence. For the two new bodies, the AfD follows a model proposed by the German Association of Judges.

The AfD wants to require out-of-court dispute resolution for claims under 600 euros before a case can go to the local court. The aim is to ease the burden on courts of first instance.

For small disputes under 600 euros, people should first go to a mediator. A mediator tries to settle the dispute without a court. Only after that can people sue. This should give the courts less work.

Mediators are to be trained lawyers who work as part of the justice system, much like notaries. If mediation fails, necessary expert reports are to be obtained in a shortened evidence procedure, and the mediator issues a legal opinion with a recommendation. If that recommendation matches the later court ruling, the losing party pays the mediator; otherwise the state does. Fees are to reflect the mediator's workload. Parallel justice, in particular under Sharia, is to remain excluded.

The AfD wants to hire considerably more staff for courts, prosecutors' offices and prisons and to digitalize the justice system. This is meant to speed up proceedings and ensure crimes are punished promptly.

The AfD wants to hire more judges and prosecutors. Prisons should get more staff too. Courts should work more with computers. This should make cases go faster.

The platform justifies the demand with an upcoming wave of retirements and recruitment problems in the prison service. For that service it plans a hiring drive and financial incentives. Prosecutors and courts are to receive the funds and technology they need to investigate and charge crimes quickly. The AfD wants to shift the focus from supporting offenders to swift punishment, while keeping support services to the extent needed. Prosecutors are also to use fast-track proceedings more often, which should also apply in juvenile law, and unnecessary laws are to be repealed.

The AfD rejects any mitigation of sentences on grounds of religion, culture or ideology and wants parallel justice to be prosecuted. There should be no settling of conflicts under Sharia in Lower Saxony. The party also rejects state treaties with Islamic associations.

The AfD wants only German law to apply to everyone. Religion or culture should not make sentences lighter. Sharia is Islamic law. It should play no role in Lower Saxony. The state should not sign treaties with Islamic associations.

In the platform's view, crimes are often not punished adequately when offenders have a certain cultural background. The AfD opposes any loosening of criminal law out of consideration for the norms of other cultures. Parallel justice is to be prosecuted under existing law. The rules of private international law are to remain unaffected. The party rules out state treaties with Islamic associations along the lines of Hamburg's.