What do the parties in Saxony-Anhalt say on democracy and the state?

The AfD wants to base its governing policy solely on the well-being of people in Saxony-Anhalt. What the EU, Ukraine, the UN migration compact, or the Paris climate conference want or require should not serve as the benchmark.

The AfD wants to make policy only for the people of Saxony-Anhalt. The EU should not set the standard. Ukraine should not either. The same goes for agreements on migration and climate.

The AfD wants to reduce bureaucracy that, in its view, constrains citizens and public administrations. Municipalities are to receive more money. The party holds that enough funds exist but are being spent in the wrong places.

The AfD wants less red tape. Red tape means many rules and forms from government offices. Cities and towns should get more money. The AfD says there is enough money, but the state spends it wrongly.

The AfD wants to write parents' right to raise their children into Saxony-Anhalt's constitution. It rejects enshrining separate children's rights, arguing this would make state intervention in families easier.

The AfD wants to change the state constitution. It should say: Parents have the right to raise their children. The AfD is against separate children's rights in the constitution. It believes the state would then interfere too much in families.

The AfD wants to dissolve the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung (State Agency for Civic Education) in its current form and replace it with a state institute for civic-political education and cultural identity. The platform accuses the agency of lacking neutrality and of funding left-wing associations.

The AfD wants to close the State Agency for Civic Education. The party says this agency is not neutral. A new institute should replace it. It should deal with civic education and cultural identity.

As a state government, the AfD wants to push for fewer criminal offenses that concern expressions of opinion. It considers the term hate crime too elastic and sees it as a tool for suppressing unwanted criticism.

Some statements are a crime in Germany. The AfD wants fewer such rules. It says the term hate crime is too vague. It says many people no longer dare to give their opinion.

The AfD wants an amnesty law that cancels fines and warning fees imposed for breaking COVID measures. It regards many of those measures as arbitrary and speaks of an injustice that must be remedied.

During COVID there were many rules. People who broke them often had to pay money. The AfD wants to cancel these penalties. People who already paid should be able to get their money back. The AfD thinks many COVID rules were wrong.

The AfD rejects surveillance and data retention without specific cause and wants to give citizens back control over their data. At the same time, the government, the administration and the state parliament would have to disclose considerably more.

The AfD wants no surveillance without a reason. The state should not store data without cause. People should decide about their own data. The government and its offices should publish more documents. All public meetings of the state parliament should be shown online.

The AfD wants members of the state parliament to enjoy immunity by default again, which could be lifted only on request and with a two-thirds majority. The program justifies this by pointing to court cases that, in its view, are being used politically against AfD lawmakers.

Members of the state parliament should have immunity again. Immunity means they cannot simply be taken to court. Parliament should need two thirds of the votes to remove this protection. The AfD says courts are being used against its lawmakers.

Associations would receive state money only if they declare their commitment to the democratic order and to a patriotic stance. The AfD argues that associations that reject Germany are currently being funded as well.

Associations often get money from the state. The AfD wants a new condition for this. Associations should commit to democracy. They should also declare that they stand up for Germany. Without this pledge they should get no money.

The AfD wants to allow postal voting only for voters who credibly show that they cannot vote in person on election day. It regards voting at the polling place as the standard and considers postal voting vulnerable to manipulation.

The AfD wants to limit voting by mail. Only people who really cannot come on election day should vote by mail. They must give an important reason. Everyone else should vote at the polling place. The AfD says cheating is easier with voting by mail.

The AfD wants to make popular initiatives, petitions for referendums and referendums at the state level easier by lowering hurdles and quorums and extending deadlines. It also plans a digital platform for online petitions.

People in the state should be able to vote on issues more often. Fewer signatures should be needed for this. There should be more time to collect them. Signing online should also be possible. There should be a website for petitions. A petition is a request to the state parliament.

The AfD wants to leave more decisions to municipalities and counties and to withdraw requirements set by the state and federal governments. Counties should be able to levy their own taxes, and the federal government should pay for any new tasks it assigns to municipalities.

The AfD wants municipalities to decide more on their own. The state and federal governments should set fewer rules for them. Counties should get their own taxes. If the federal government hands out new tasks, it should pay for them.

The AfD wants to greatly simplify the state's funding programs so that a single application is enough and money is paid out with little red tape. At the same time, municipalities are to get digital administrative access and online services for residents.

The AfD wants fewer forms for public funding. One single application should be enough. Every municipality should get modern digital administration. People should be able to do many things online and by app. But there should still be a human contact person.

The AfD wants to strengthen municipalities' planning authority and make decentralized solutions for drinking water and sewage easier. The obligation to connect to and use public systems is to be loosened. No one is to be required to install a fully biological treatment plant.

Towns should be able to plan more on their own. People should be able to use their own wells for drinking water. The duty to connect to the public system should become looser. No one should have to install a certain kind of sewage plant.

The AfD wants a law restricting municipalities to providing basic local services. Holdings and new companies aimed at profit, investment, or project development would be banned.

The AfD wants to set limits for towns and cities. They should only take care of basic services for local people. These include water, heating, and buses. They should no longer be allowed to start companies to make money.

The AfD wants to completely dissolve the Landesverwaltungsamt (State Administration Office) and close state-owned companies it considers unnecessary. In the program's view, this mid-level agency creates duplicate structures, and tax money should not fund inefficient bodies.

The AfD wants to get rid of the State Administration Office. This is an agency between the ministries and the towns. Some companies owned by the state should also close. The AfD thinks they are not needed and cost too much.

The AfD wants a law banning all state budget funding for political foundations. It regards this funding as indirect party financing and says parties should pay for political education themselves from donations and membership dues.

Some foundations are close to a political party. They get money from the state. The AfD wants a law to stop this. Parties should pay for political education themselves.

The AfD wants at least two old rules repealed for every new one, and applications to count as approved automatically when agencies miss their deadlines. It also calls for mandatory digital procedures and binding standards for a citizen-oriented administration. The stated goal is less bureaucracy and faster processes.

The AfD wants fewer rules. For every new rule, two old ones should go. Offices should decide faster. If they take too long, a request counts as approved. Offices should work more with digital tools.

The BSW rejects surveillance without cause as well as reporting and monitoring platforms, and wants to protect the confidentiality of private communication. State action should be proportionate and respect the presumption of innocence. The party sees free speech threatened by cancel culture, pressure to conform and what it regards as a lecturing style of politics.

The state should not watch people without a reason. Talks on the phone and in chats should stay private. The BSW wants no reporting platforms. Everyone should be able to speak their mind freely.

The BSW wants to expand direct democracy in the state: the hurdles for popular initiatives, petitions for referendums and referendums are to be lowered, and referendum results are to bind the government and the state parliament. It also wants citizens' assemblies, municipal citizens' budgets and a review of laws for their effects on future generations.

People should be able to vote on issues more often. Fewer signatures should be needed for that. The result should bind the government. Citizens' assemblies should make proposals. These are groups of randomly chosen people.

Organizations that receive state money are to disclose their finances. An independent body is to audit the funding so that the money verifiably serves the common good.

Some groups get money from the state. They should show where their money comes from. They should also show what they spend it on. An independent office should check this.

The BSW wants to end public money for organizations it sees as close to parties or politically one-sided. The rules for nonprofit status are to be narrowed.

The BSW wants no state money for groups that are close to parties. The party sees this as hidden support for parties. The rules for nonprofit groups should get stricter. Nonprofit means the group serves the public.

The state parliament is to review COVID policy in a committee of inquiry. In the BSW's view, basic rights were heavily restricted, often without a sound scientific basis.

The state parliament should look closely at the COVID period. A committee of inquiry should do this. The BSW thinks many rules back then were poorly justified. The state should learn from this.

People who paid fines or suffered job consequences because of COVID rules are to be rehabilitated and compensated. The BSW regards many measures as excessive or ineffective in hindsight.

Some people had to pay fines because of COVID rules. Others had trouble at work. The BSW wants to compensate these people. The state should apologize in public.

The BSW wants state, urban and regional development planned across ministries, with binding cooperation between cities, municipalities and regions. Mid-sized regional centers and rural areas are to be strengthened to slow out-migration.

Cities and villages should work together more closely. This should also happen across state borders. Mid-sized towns should get more housing, businesses and buses. In rural areas, converting old buildings should become easier.

The BSW wants to change how state funds are distributed under the central-places principle, arguing that it favors large cities over mid-sized towns and rural municipalities. Municipalities are to get reliable funding programs and more room to act on their own.

Today, big cities get more state money than small places. The BSW wants to change that. Small towns and villages should get more money. Funding programs should be reliable.

The BSW wants to expand legal advice services for people on low incomes, especially in rural areas. Basic legal knowledge is also to become a fixed part of school lessons so that the legal system becomes accessible to more people.

The BSW wants more legal advice for people with little money. This matters most in villages and small towns. Students should learn more about the law at school. They should also visit courts.

The BSW wants to abolish the right of ministries to give public prosecutors instructions in individual investigations. In the party's view, this right allows political influence on the justice system.

Today, ministries can give prosecutors orders in single cases. The BSW wants to end that. The party says politics can influence justice this way. Other orders should be in writing and open.

The BSW wants more staff and better pay in the justice system to speed up proceedings. The courts are to become more digital, while rural court locations and in-person hearings are to be kept.

The BSW wants more staff for courts and prisons. Judges and prosecutors should be paid better. Courts in rural areas should stay. Video hearings should only be an extra option.

The BSW wants to write children's and young people's rights to free expression and political participation into the state constitution. Having a say in schools and municipalities is to become binding.

The BSW wants stronger rights for children and young people. Young people should have a say and help decide. This right should be in the state constitution. Schools and towns should always involve them.

The BSW wants a critical review of how the Treuhandanstalt (the agency that privatized East German state firms) operated and of the upheaval after 1990. In the party's view, many of the East's disadvantages today stem from political mistakes of that period. The review is meant to help shape economic and structural policy differently in the future.

The BSW wants a close look at the years after 1990. Back then, the Treuhand agency sold many companies in the East. Many people lost their jobs. The party says politicians made mistakes then. People should learn from this for today.

The BSW wants to improve forms of participation ranging from referendums to citizen budgets. People active in local politics are to receive an expense allowance and pension credits. The party points to many East Germans' low trust in politics.

The BSW wants citizens to have more say. This includes public votes and a citizen budget. People who do local politics should get money. They should also get credits toward their pension. Young people should have a say early on.

The CDU wants to give municipalities more leeway: funding procedures are to become simpler and more money is to flow as lump sums. State laws are to include experimentation clauses more often, and cooperation between municipalities is to be promoted.

Towns and cities should decide more for themselves. Applying for state funding should get easier. Towns should get more money without fixed rules attached. They should also be allowed to try out new approaches. The state and the towns should talk to each other regularly.

The CDU wants to expand civic education in the state and give it a different focus. It is meant to inform factually instead of lecturing and to convey basic knowledge about the state, society and political processes.

The CDU wants more civic education. People should learn how the state and politics work. The programs should give facts and not lecture people. This should start in primary school.

The CDU wants to bundle administrative modernization in one central unit of the state administration. Permitting and public procurement procedures would run fully digitally, and applications would count as approved if the agency does not decide in time (deemed approval).

The CDU wants to modernize public administration. One central office in the state will steer this. Permits and public contracts should be handled fully online. If the office does not answer in time, the application counts as approved. This is called deemed approval. Offices should more often check only samples.

After a review of government tasks, the CDU plans a far-reaching administrative reform that also examines the mid-level agencies. Oversight and reporting duties would be cut to a minimum, overlapping responsibilities removed and municipalities given more responsibility of their own.

The CDU wants to make the state administration smaller. First it checks which tasks are needed. Double responsibilities should end. Cities and towns should decide more on their own. There should be fewer reporting duties. In future, each reporting duty needs a reason and a time limit.

The CDU wants faster court proceedings and swift punishment of crimes through accelerated procedures. It plans target times for key types of proceedings, intends to keep all court and prosecutor locations, and wants to recruit more young talent for the justice system.

The CDU wants courts to work faster. Important kinds of cases will get target times. Crimes should be punished quickly. All courts in the state will stay, also in rural areas. The justice system should attract more young people. Work there should become more attractive.

The CDU wants to counter the decline in the availability of lawyers, especially in rural areas. Anyone who founds a law firm in a county with below-average coverage would receive a start-up grant and in return commit to the location for five years.

There are fewer and fewer lawyers in rural areas. The CDU wants to change that. Anyone who opens a new law firm there gets money from the state. This applies in counties with few lawyers. The firm must stay in place for five years.

The CDU wants to digitize the justice system throughout, with electronic case files and electronic access to them. Artificial intelligence would serve as a supporting tool to make proceedings more efficient and faster.

The CDU wants to make the justice system digital. Files should be kept only electronically. People should also be able to view files electronically. Artificial intelligence should help with the work. This should make cases go faster. Unneeded rules should be dropped.

The CDU wants to give more support to lay arbitrators and mediation, which the platform says resolve conflicts quickly, close to citizens and at low cost. It also wants an arbitration system to emerge that has a reach beyond Saxony-Anhalt.

Some disputes can be solved without a court. Lay arbitrators and mediators help with that. The CDU wants to strengthen this help. It should be fast and cheap. Saxony-Anhalt should become known for it.

The CDU wants to relieve volunteers of bureaucracy and check every new law for its effects on volunteering. A state program called "Ehrenamt" (volunteering) is to bundle funding into one central line. At the federal level, it advocates raising the tax-free allowances for trainers and volunteers.

Many people help in clubs without pay. The CDU wants to give them less paperwork. Every new law should be checked: does it hurt volunteering? There should be one funding program for all volunteers.

The CDU wants to transpose European and federal requirements into state law as leanly as possible and roll back additional state rules. Funding procedures are to become noticeably simpler.

The EU and the federal government make rules. The state should not add its own rules on top. The CDU wants to cut such extra rules. Applying for funding should become easier.

The CDU wants Saxony-Anhalt to get fair treatment in federal funding, powers, and the siting of federal agencies. It stands for strong states within the federal system and for equivalent living conditions across Germany.

The CDU wants the federal government to treat Saxony-Anhalt fairly. The state should get enough federal money. New federal agencies should also come to Saxony-Anhalt. That brings jobs. The states should stay strong.

The Greens want to lower the thresholds for referendums and citizens' petitions at the state level. Citizens' initiatives and residents' motions are also to be made easier, and municipalities would have to support referendums neutrally.

The Greens want to make citizens' votes easier. Today you need many signatures and votes for that. These numbers should go down. Towns should have to give fair information about such votes.

The Greens want to introduce citizens' assemblies across the state and make public participation a fixed task of municipalities. Participation is to be accessible and reach groups that are rarely heard. A state lobby register is to disclose who influences politics.

The Greens want citizens' assemblies across the state. There, citizens discuss important questions and give advice. Everyone should be able to take part, even with little time or money. A lobby register should show who influences politics.

The Greens want to move lawmakers' retirement benefits into the regular statutory pension system. Transitional pay after leaving office is to be paid for one year at most and offset against other income.

The Greens want to change benefits for lawmakers. Lawmakers should pay into the normal public pension system. After leaving office they get transitional pay. That should last one year at most.

The Greens want to digitize the justice system and provide funding for it so that proceedings become faster. Courts and public prosecutors' offices are to get more staff. Specialized teams are to be set up against cybercrime.

The Greens want to modernize the courts. Files should be digital and hearings should also work by video. Courts and prosecutors should get more staff. Experts should pursue crimes on the internet more effectively.

The Greens want a comprehensive open data strategy for the state and digital freedom of information. Political decisions, motions and bylaws are to be freely accessible. According to the program, this should build trust and enable oversight by citizens as well as economic innovation.

The Greens want an open administration. Government offices should show their data and decisions online. Everyone should be able to read decisions and motions. This lets citizens check politics more easily.

The Greens want to cut duplicate structures in state authorities and define responsibilities clearly. The administration is to move further toward a two-tier setup. The program names a target of 18.7 full-time positions per 1,000 residents.

The Greens want a simpler state administration. Offices should not do the same tasks twice. There should be fewer levels in the administration. There should be 18.7 full-time jobs for every 1,000 residents.

The Greens want the state constitution to guarantee children's rights to participation, not just protection. A monitoring office would check whether these rights are upheld.

The Greens want more rights for children in the state constitution. Children should also get the right to have a say. A new office should check whether the state respects these rights. Towns should have offices for children's rights.

The Greens want volunteer work to be easier to combine with a job and call for a Bildungszeitgesetz (educational leave law) for Saxony-Anhalt. Voluntary service programs are to become better known and more attractive, including through higher pocket money.

The Greens want to make volunteering easier. Volunteering means helping without pay. A new law should give workers time for further training. People in voluntary service programs should get more pocket money.

The Greens want a democracy promotion law for Saxony-Anhalt that permanently funds projects against extremism, hate and violence and shields them from short-term budget decisions. State programs for democracy and civic education are to be funded over several years.

The Greens want a new law for democracy. Projects against hate and violence should get money for the long term. They should be able to plan for several years. The state agency for civic education should be independent.

The Greens want to develop protection plans for volunteers and initiatives that face far-right threats because of their work for democracy. The focus is on municipalities with elevated levels of far-right violence.

Some people stand up for democracy. Far-right groups threaten them for it. The Greens want to protect these people better. They should get advice and legal help.

The Left wants to make popular initiatives, petitions for referendums, referendums and local citizen participation easier. Signature and approval thresholds are to be lowered and conditions for organizers improved. The party considers the current legal basis for participation inadequate.

The Left wants people to vote on political questions more often. Fewer signatures should be needed for this. It should also get easier in towns and cities. A group of 1,000 people should be able to bring a topic to the state parliament.

The Left wants young people to be able to vote in local and state elections from the age of 14. The demand is part of the party's plans to increase political participation.

The Left wants to lower the voting age. Young people should be allowed to vote at 14. This should apply to local elections. It should also apply to the state election.

The Left wants to pass a law to strengthen volunteering and set up a volunteering fund as well as a budget for municipalities. In the party's view, voluntary work needs a more reliable basis and more support from paid staff.

Many people help as volunteers, for example in the fire department or in sports clubs. The Left wants a law for these people. There should be money for projects. Towns should also get money to support volunteers.

The Left wants to fight right-wing extremism not with more surveillance but with stronger democratic structures in municipalities. Mobile counseling teams, stronger associations and help with building participation are meant to contribute. Local politicians and engaged citizens are to be better protected.

The Left wants to act against right-wing extremism. It does not rely on more surveillance. It wants to make democracy in towns stronger. Advisers should help the towns. Clubs and associations should get more support. Mayors and volunteers should get protection.

The Left wants to create the office of a citizens' ombudsperson in addition to the state parliament's petitions committee. The office is to receive and handle complaints about public administration. In the party's view, this will strengthen trust in democracy.

The Left wants to create a new office: a citizens' ombudsperson. People can complain there about government offices. The ombudsperson then takes care of the problem. The petitions committee in the state parliament will stay.

The Left wants a parity law for Saxony-Anhalt. It would ensure that at least every second member of the state parliament and of the state government is a woman.

The Left wants a parity law. Parity means women and men are equally represented. At least half of the state lawmakers should be women. The same should apply to the state government.

The Left wants a new state higher education act that gives all groups at universities more of a say. At the same time, freedom of research and teaching is to be protected against political and financial pressure.

The Left wants a new law for universities. Students and staff should have more say in decisions. Research and teaching should stay free. The state should protect researchers from pressure and lawsuits.

The Left wants to ban discrimination based on age and anchor this in the Basic Law (Germany's constitution), for the young as well as the old. Urban planning should also secure services close to where people live.

No one should be treated worse because of their age. This applies to young and old people. The Left wants to write this into the constitution. Shops, pharmacies and doctors should also be nearby.

The Left wants to write children's rights into the state constitution and set binding rules for young people's participation. Youth parliaments would be elected online in municipalities and receive their own rights and a budget. Before major decisions, the state and municipalities would have to set out what those decisions mean for children.

The Left wants to put children's rights into the state constitution. Children and young people should have more say. Youth parliaments should get their own money for projects. They should be allowed to make proposals and speak in local councils. Anyone who files a complaint should get an answer quickly.

The Left wants to create a children's commission as a subcommittee of the state parliament. It would represent children's concerns in parliament and spot problems earlier.

The Left wants a children's commission in the state parliament. This is a group of lawmakers. It should look after the concerns of children. It should talk with organizations regularly.

The Left wants the state to cover the share that municipalities currently have to pay themselves for projects under the federal program "Demokratie leben!" (Live Democracy!). In the party's view, democracy education for children and young people should not fail because municipalities are short of money. Age-appropriate civic education would also be expanded.

There is a federal program for democracy projects. Towns have to pay part of the cost themselves. The Left wants the state to pay that part. This way, projects can also happen in poor towns. Children and young people should experience democracy there.

The Left wants to give municipalities and their associations legally anchored rights to take part when the state makes laws. This applies above all when tasks are decided that municipalities later have to carry out.

The Left wants towns and cities to help decide on state laws. Today they can often only give an opinion. The state should talk to them early. Their feedback should really change something.

The Left wants to support and fund forms of direct participation in towns and cities, including citizens' assemblies and participatory budgets. Municipalities that try out new forms of participation are to receive special support as model municipalities.

The Left wants people to have more say where they live. For example, there should be citizens' assemblies. These are groups of citizens who make proposals. Citizens should also help decide how some of the money is spent. The state should help pay for this.

The Left wants to upgrade the Ortschaftsräte (village and district councils): they are to be heard on all matters of their own and get their own budget. Larger cities are also to be allowed to set up neighborhood advisory councils with their own funds.

The Left wants to strengthen the councils in villages and districts. They should get their own money. Then they can change things in their area themselves. Big cities should also be allowed to set up councils for their neighborhoods.

The Left wants everyone to be able to obtain justice quickly, regardless of income or where they live. Legal aid is to remain uncut, local courts are to be kept, and proceedings shortened.

The Left wants everyone to be able to get justice in court. This should not depend on money. Help with court costs should not be cut. Courts should stay close to where people live. People who win against a public agency should get all their costs back.

The Left wants to ease the overload in the justice system with a long-term staffing strategy and swift hiring. Better working conditions and additional support and IT staff are meant to speed up proceedings.

The courts have too much work and too few staff. The Left wants to change this with a long-term plan. Open jobs should be filled quickly. There should be more assistants and IT experts. Work should fit better with family life.

The Left wants to comprehensively digitize courts and judicial authorities in Saxony-Anhalt. The aim is to make proceedings faster, more transparent and easier for citizens to access.

The Left wants to modernize the courts. Hearings should also be possible by video. People should be able to file requests online. This should make court cases faster.

The Left wants to expand mediation as an alternative to lengthy court proceedings and have the state pay for it. According to the program, many disputes can be resolved faster and with less strain this way, easing the burden on courts.

In mediation, a neutral person helps solve a conflict. The Left wants the state to pay for this. Then fewer people have to go to court. The courts will have less work.

The Left wants to ensure that digitalization and cutting red tape do not lead to job cuts in public administration. Positions freed up by automation are to be moved into direct citizen services.

Computers take over more and more tasks in government offices. The Left still does not want to lay anyone off. Staff should then have more time for citizens. Rural areas should get more mobile offices.

The SPD wants municipalities to be required to involve young people and advocates a voting age of 16. A binding youth support plan is to be drawn up with youth work organizations.

Young people should have a say in their town. The SPD wants to make this a duty for towns. Young people should be allowed to vote at 16. Youth organizations should get enough money.

The SPD wants to give courts and prosecutors' offices more staff and technology and rejects a hiring freeze. Training and career paths in the justice system would be reformed. A binding plan with timelines would be drawn up for digitalizing the justice system.

Courts should get more staff and better technology. The SPD wants to keep hiring new people in the justice system. Training should become more modern. The justice system should work more digitally. There should be a fixed plan for this.

The SPD wants to use the Bundesrat to have it examined whether proceedings to ban the AfD should be initiated. The Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency) would get more staff and better equipment to respond to right-wing extremism, sabotage, and espionage. Parliamentary oversight of the agency would remain in place.

The SPD wants to have it checked whether the AfD can be banned. This should happen through the Bundesrat. The domestic intelligence agency should get more staff and equipment. Parliament should keep overseeing the agency. Groups working against extremism will keep getting money.

The SPD wants to draw up a state strategy against loneliness and give more support to volunteer work. According to the program, loneliness weakens social cohesion and democratic participation.

Many people feel lonely. The SPD wants a plan against this. People who volunteer for others should get more help. There should be a law on volunteering.

The SPD wants to introduce citizens' assemblies and lower the hurdles for popular initiatives and referendums. It presents this as its answer to weakening party loyalty and growing skepticism toward politics.

The SPD wants citizens to have more of a say. There should be citizens' assemblies. In them, citizens discuss hard topics. Votes by the people should also become easier.

The SPD wants to continue and expand the state program for democracy, diversity and openness and fund projects over several years. A specialized prosecutor's office is to handle right-wing extremist crimes.

The SPD wants to pay for democracy projects for longer and more reliably. A special prosecutor's office should deal with far-right crimes. Schools should do more against racism and sexism. People should learn to spot false news online.

The SPD wants to give volunteer local politicians better support. Their expense allowances are to be made fully tax-free, and a state program is to protect them. According to the program, political engagement should not lead to financial disadvantages.

Many people do local politics in their free time. The SPD wants to help these people. They should pay no taxes on their volunteer allowance. A state program should protect them from attacks.

The SPD wants to introduce a citizens' budget for cities and towns. Twenty euros per resident are to be made available, and local people decide together how to use the money. This is meant to fund voluntary tasks and strengthen democratic participation.

The SPD wants to introduce a citizens' budget. This is money that citizens decide on themselves. Each town should get 20 euros per person. Local people then decide together what the money is for.

The SPD wants Saxony-Anhalt to push at the federal level for an addition to the Basic Law (Germany's constitution). The program cites the rise of far-right forces as the reason. The state constitution is to serve as a model.

The SPD wants to add to the Basic Law. The Basic Law is Germany's constitution. It should contain clear rules against racism and hatred of Jews. The constitution of Saxony-Anhalt should be the model.

The SPD calls for distributing federal agencies fairly across all German states and strengthening those located in Saxony-Anhalt. All federal ministries are to move completely from Bonn to Berlin. East Germans are to be better represented in leadership positions in the federal administration.

The SPD wants more federal agencies in all German states. All ministries should move fully to Berlin. Today some are still in Bonn. More people from eastern Germany should become leaders in federal agencies.

The SPD wants to pool administrative tasks, make procedures easier to understand and promote cooperation between the state and municipalities. In the platform's view, a functioning administration is a precondition for trust in the state and for economic development.

The SPD wants to organize public offices better. Offices should handle tasks together. Forms and official letters should come with plain-language explanations. The state, towns and counties should work together more. Offices should also be located in rural areas.