Liberal Conservative Reformers

LKR
Party leader	Jürgen Joost
vice-chairman	Sascha Flegel, Holger Wilzek, Dirk Kosse
Federal Treasurer	Fronke Gerken
founding	July 19, 2015 (as an alliance for progress and awakening )
Place of foundation	kassel
Headquarters	Mühlenstrasse 8a 14167 Berlin
Alignment	Economic liberalism Conservatism Euro criticism
Colours)	orange
Bundestag seats	0/709
Seats in state parliaments	0/1821
Government grants	53,931.61 euros (2018) (as of April 15, 2019 )
Number of members	1000 (as of September 26, 2018)
Minimum age	16 years
MEPs	0/96
European party	European Conservatives and Reformists Party (EKR)
Website	lkr.de

Liberal-Conservative Reformer (short name LKR ), previously the Alliance for Progress and Awakening (short name ALFA ), is a small German party that was initiated in 2015 by former AfD spokesman Bernd Lucke .

As a result of the transfer of AfD mandate holders, the party included a member of the European Parliament and a member of the Bremen citizenship , which were lost in the European elections on May 26, 2019 and the citizenship election in Bremen on the same day . The party only provides a few municipal elected officials.

In state elections from 2016 to mid-October 2018, the party received between 0.0 and 1.0 percent of the votes, insofar as it was admitted to these. In the 2019 European elections, she won 0.1% of the vote in Germany. In the general election in 2017 and parliamentary elections in 2019 the party did not appear to.

Content profile

In their statutes, the liberal-conservative reformers commit themselves to the free, democratic and social constitutional state and to the fundamental rights enshrined in the Basic Law. The statutes formulate the rejection of all " xenophobic , racist , nationalist , anti-Semitic , Islamophobic , Islamist , homophobic , right - wing or radical left-wing positions as well as all parties, organizations and media that represent or give space to such positions".

The party wants to "face the challenges that Germany and its citizens are facing today with objective and ideology-free solution concepts". The party wants to “meet the requirements of a multi-layered, pluralistic and highly differentiated society”, in which “there are usually no simple solutions for complex problems”. The LKR is opposed to “a policy that only looks at the next election dates in the short term instead of assessing long-term consequences”, and which postulates “being able to replace responsible action guided by sensible principles with catchphrases and slogans.”

Immigration and Refugee Policy

In September 2015, the party presented an “asylum concept” with a “breathing ceiling”, which was for the first time “an overall concept of coordinated measures”.

General Secretary Jürgen Joost at the LKR federal party conference in March 2017

At the beginning of September 2015, Bernd Lucke demanded that the number of “those who come to us” should be reduced to “around a third” in the future. He also called for the establishment of "protection zones for refugees" in their home regions. Bernd Kölmel called for the refusal of smugglers by naval units in order to avoid further deaths in the Mediterranean. Asylum seekers should primarily be allowed to submit their applications to German diplomatic missions or initial reception centers in North Africa. Asylum applications in EU countries should only be possible in clearly defined exceptional cases. Undocumented applicants should be rejected.

The party rejects the concept of “ welcoming culture” and instead advocates a “supportive culture”. Germany must not give the impression that it welcomes those who wanted to go to Germany for reasons entirely different from need and persecution. German development cooperation should take on sponsorships with developing countries in order to combat the causes of flight.

In the debate about limiting the number of refugees, the party also advocates the introduction of municipal upper limits. The individual municipalities should therefore determine how many refugees they can take in. The federal government should, however, assume the costs of supplying asylum seekers and refugees. In the opinion of the North Rhine-Westphalian state chairman van Suntum, the costs associated with the refugees would not pay off in a few years. Van Suntum, professor of economics at the University of Münster, attacked a related study by DIW and assumed the most serious shortcomings.

In mid-September 2015, the then party chairman Lucke said in an interview on Viktor Orbán's refugee policy that Hungary was exposed to great pressure from refugees and was reacting accordingly harshly. In an interview with Spiegel Online in October 2015, he said that the EU's external borders must be secured, if necessary with fences and naval units. Hungary only does what it is obliged to do.

The immigration should be actively controlled by a modern immigration law according to the criteria of education, work experience, language skills and the needs of the labor market. The party only speaks out against uncontrolled immigration.

Euro and European policy

Bernd Lucke at the LKR federal party conference in March 2017

The liberal-conservative reformers essentially criticize the European policy of the German federal government and the policy of the European Commission. According to their basic program, you stand for a Europe of sovereign states. The party relies on subsidiarity and competition between the individual member states, which are supposed to be liable for their debts and bank risks themselves, which is why the crisis aid is rejected. The party advocates an orderly Grexit to protect German taxpayers from higher liability risks. However, a haircut should be granted for Greece. Should a Grexit be prevented, one should also think about Germany's exit from the euro, which would take place in association with other economically strong countries in Northern and Central Europe. The party justifies this with the fact that a currency must correspond to the different economic and fiscal cultures of the respective countries. If this were not possible, the party advocates a return to national currencies.

The party continues to criticize the policies of the ECB and classify them as illegal. The ECB should only work for price stability in the euro zone. She also rejects the European Commission's plans for a Europe-wide deposit insurance scheme. MEPs Bernd Lucke and Joachim Starbatty describe these plans as expropriating savers in Germany.

The Liberal Conservative Reformers are in favor of free trade in general and, subject to possible changes, the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TTIP). Bernd Lucke accuses the TTIP opponents of the fact that many of their claims about TTIP are demonstrably false.

organization

Party leader

• Bernd Lucke (July 2015 to June 4, 2016)
• Ulrike Trebesius (June 4 to November 12, 2016)
• Christian Kott (November 12, 2016 to August 8, 2017)
• Bernd Kölmel (September 17, 2017 to September 25, 2018)
• Peter Reich (acting; September 26, 2018 to October 15, 2018)
• Stephanie Tsomakaeva (acting; October 16, 2018 to November 10, 2018)
• Bernd Lucke (November 10, 2018 to September 28, 2019)
• Jürgen Joost (since September 28, 2019)

Regional associations

The Liberal Conservative Reformers have regional associations in each state . The youngest was founded in April 2016 in Thuringia .

	Regional association	founding	Chairperson
	Baden-Württemberg	23rd August 2015	Petra Coenders
	Bavaria	October 18, 2015	Roland Zühlke
	Berlin	3rd October 2015	Michaela Bach (acting)
	Brandenburg	5th December 2015	Frank Perka
	Bremen	20th September 2015	Hans Rittberg
	Hamburg	January 16, 2016	Wolfgang Schlage
	Hesse	November 7, 2015	Thomas Preinl
	Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	20th September 2015	nn
	Lower Saxony	September 26, 2015	Bernd Vogel
	North Rhine-Westphalia	4th October 2015	Willi Johannes Knaup
	Rhineland-Palatinate	5th September 2015	Stephan Schlitz
	Saarland	November 29, 2015	nn
	Saxony	December 12, 2015	Kai Mrosek
	Saxony-Anhalt	November 1, 2015	Matthias Schilling
	Schleswig-Holstein	October 10, 2015	Uwe Christiansen
	Thuringia	2nd April 2016	Matthias Anschütz

Youth organization Junge Reformer

The official youth organization of the Liberal Conservative Reformers were the Junge Reformer (short form jure). It was founded in the summer of 2015 and has been the youth organization of the mother party since it was founded. It had a federal association and two state associations. The state associations were North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg. The membership amounted to several hundred members. It supported the mother party ideally and personally in the election campaign and in the preparation of election candidates. At the European level, she was active with the European Young Conservatives , where she is currently a Vice-Chairman. The youth organization disbanded in 2017.

Sub-organizations

On November 14, 2015, the Alliance for Progress and Awakening SME Network (AMN) was founded in Kassel. Internet entrepreneur Sven Oliver Rüsche from Gummersbach was elected as the first national spokesman. The AMN is committed to the social market economy according to Ludwig Erhard .

Members

The statutes enable the federal executive committee to provide for a one-year “guest membership” for new members without voting rights at party conferences at its own discretion. The federal executive keeps a list of parties whose former members are not allowed to become members of the party. The candidates for membership must acknowledge Germany's ties to the West and must not have been part of an extremist party. Furthermore, people who were party members of the AfD in December 2015 are no longer accepted as a regular rule. Members can be expelled if they “significantly” contradict the principles of the party. This also applies to statements made before joining the party. She expressly rejects positions of a “ xenophobic , racist , nationalist , anti-Semitic , Islamophobic , Islamist , homophobic , right-wing or left-wing radical ” nature inside and outside the party.

history

Wake-up call 2015 and Essen AfD party conference

→ Main article : 2015 wake-up call

As part of the power and wing struggle in the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the Weckruf 2015 association was founded in May 2015 as a reaction to the " Erfurt Resolution ". According to the statutes of this unregistered association, as its chairman Ulrike Trebesius appeared, the aim was to maintain the AfD as a party that "objectively and constructively represents both conservative, liberal and social values". In the opinion of the competitor Luckes for the position of the first speaker, Frauke Petry , the "wake-up call party association" was "an attempt by a minority to destroy the inner-party democracy." By June 2015, the association reported about 4,000 of the then close 20,000 members of the AfD.

In the board elections at an extraordinary federal party conference in Essen at the beginning of July 2015, what the political scientist Oskar Niedermayer considered to be the “right-wing conservative wing” around Petry prevailed against Luckes supporters when he was defeated by Petry as chairman. In a survey called Neustart 2015 , almost 71 percent of the voting wake-up call members spoke out in favor of founding a new party.

Party formation

Press conference on the founding of the party in Kassel on July 19, 2015 (far left Bernd Lucke , far right Bernd Kölmel )

The Alliance for Progress and Awakening was founded in Kassel on July 19, 2015 during a closed meeting of around seventy members, many of whom were former AfD members. The founding meeting passed a statute and a basic program and elected Bernd Lucke as party chairman. Bernd Kölmel, Gunther Nickel and Reiner Rohlje were elected as deputy chairmen . In addition, Ulrike Trebesius was elected as General Secretary and André Yorulmaz as Deputy General Secretary.

With Bernd Lucke, Hans-Olaf Henkel , Bernd Kölmel, Ulrike Trebesius and Joachim Starbatty , five of the original seven EU MPs of the AfD joined the Alliance for Progress and Awakening. Three of the four AfD members of the Bremen citizenship - a fifth seat was only awarded to the AfD by the electoral examination court in December 2015 - switched to the new party: Christian Schäfer , Piet Leidreiter and Klaus Remkes . In addition, Siegfried Gentele , member of the Thuringian state parliament, temporarily joined the party. In Bavaria, large parts of the AfD state executive joined the Alliance for Progress and Awakening.

In October 2015, the party confirmed that the life rights movement Aktion Lebensrecht für Alle had filed a lawsuit with the Augsburg Regional Court against the use of the abbreviation ALFA ; According to the media, both had also applied for trademark rights , the club about six weeks earlier. In May 2016 the regional court ruled that the party could no longer use the abbreviation ALFA , as there was a risk of confusion with the association Aktion Lebensrecht für Alle.

The first ordinary federal party conference took place on February 27, 2016 in Ludwigshafen .

State elections 2016

When collecting supporter signatures for the state elections in Baden-Württemberg , Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt , according to the authorities, the party violated the right to vote: The party had an online competition for signing supporter forms for the elections advertised on March 13, 2016. According to the deputy federal chairman Bernd Kölmel, it was an idea of ​​the party's " IT department" that was implemented without a legal review. The affected signatures would be sorted out. In Baden-Württemberg only a single signature is affected. In all three federal states, the state lists were ultimately approved for election by the respective state election committees.

In the three state elections, the party achieved 1.0 percent in Baden-Württemberg, 0.9 percent in Saxony-Anhalt and 0.6 percent in Rhineland-Palatinate. As a result of the result in Baden-Württemberg, it subsequently receives funds from state party funding . In a media report, the party was accused of only having achieved nationwide participation in the state elections and thus participation in state party funding with the help of "trial members" not provided for in the statutes, whereby it would be entitled to at least one million euros in tax money by 2021 which the party wanted to finance the election campaign for the 2017 federal election .

In the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , the party received 0.3 percent of the second votes , in the elections to the Berlin House of Representatives it received 0.4 percent of the second votes.

Local elections 2016

In the Hessian municipal elections in March 2016, the party only ran in two districts and in the independent cities of Frankfurt and Wiesbaden. Where it was available for election, it achieved results between 0.4 and 0.9 percent, nationwide that was 0.1 percent. One city council of the party was elected in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden. In the Lower Saxony local elections in September of the same year, she was able to enter two district assemblies for the first time with one non-attached MP. In addition, the party achieved other mandates in communities. In the elections to the Berlin district council assemblies, the party again only achieved 0.1 percent of the votes cast nationwide and was thus unable to achieve a mandate in any district.

In the Munich city council , the two MPs elected for the AfD in 2014 joined the (then) ALFA in September 2015. The LKR now has a seat there since Andre Wächter became a member of the Bavarian Party on January 28, 2019 .

Change of name to Liberal-Conservative Reformers

After the lost name dispute over the abbreviation ALFA versus Aktion Lebensrecht für Alle , the Alliance for Progress and Awakening was renamed “Liberal-Conservative Reformer” in November 2016 . The name change and the new corporate identity were officially decided on at the federal delegate congress on March 11, 2017 in Siegen and thus fully implemented.

Collaboration with the Conservative Collection

The chairman of the association Zukunft Deutschland, Sascha Flegel, during a speech at the federal party conference of the LKR in Siegen on March 11, 2017

The party announced in early March 2017 that it would work with the Conservative Collection in the future . The Conservative Collection was founded in December 2016 by former CDU and FDP members, including the former CDU local politician Sascha Flegel from the Heidekreis . A new association called Zukunft Deutschland was founded under the chairmanship of Flegel. It was agreed that the members could participate in the program work; Furthermore, the party and the Conservative Collection can send representatives to the respective boards of directors in an advisory capacity. The state lists were also opened for association members.

State elections 2017

In the state elections in Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein , the party received 0.2 percent of the vote. After the LKR state list had not been approved for the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia , only one direct candidate stood without official party support in the constituency of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis IV , who won 91 votes. In the state elections in Lower Saxony , the LKR received 0.02% of the second vote.

Bundestag election 2017

In June 2016, the federal party congress elected Bernd Lucke as the party's top candidate for the 2017 federal election . A year later, however, the federal party conference decided not to take part in the election. Instead, the party wants to try to become better known in public and to raise its profile.

State elections 2018

In the state elections in Bavaria on October 14, 2018, the LKR party, which only ran in the constituencies of Upper Bavaria and Swabia because it was only there to collect the necessary supporter signatures, received 364 first votes and 1,749 second votes, converted to Bavaria that was 0.02% of the total votes and thus the worst result of all 18 participating parties. In Hesse , 0.05% (1,337 votes) went to the LKR, which was the second worst result of all the participating parties.

European elections 2019

For the 2019 European elections , Bernd Lucke, who prevailed against Hans-Olaf Henkel in a runoff election , was chosen as the top candidate on September 15, 2018. As a result, the incumbent Federal Chairman and MEP Bernd Kölmel and MEPs Hans-Olaf Henkel , Ulrike Trebesius and Joachim Starbatty resigned on September 25, 2018 . On November 10, 2018, the extraordinary party convention decided to run under the name LKR - Bernd Lucke and the Liberal-Conservative Reformers . The LKR achieved 0.1 percent of the votes cast, making Bernd Lucke the last remaining member of the party to leave the European Parliament.

State elections 2019

The liberal-conservative reformers did not take part in any of the state elections taking place in 2019 ( Bremen , Brandenburg , Saxony , Thuringia ).

literature

• Simon Tobias Franzmann: From AfD to ALFA: The development towards a split . In: Communications of the Institute for German and International Party Law and Party Research, 22nd year, Düsseldorf 2016, ISSN 2192-3833, pp. 23–37.
• Simon Tobias Franzmann: The ALFA program as differentiated from the AfD: Is Germany threatened with a spiral of populism? In: Communications of the Institute for German and International Party Law and Party Research, 22nd year, Düsseldorf 2016, ISSN 2192-3833, pp. 38–51.

Web links

Commons : Alliance for Progress and Awakening  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Liberal Conservative Reformers
• Party program of the Liberal Conservative Reformers (PDF; 140 kB)

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} dispute over party course - Henkel and three others leave Lucke party. eu-info.de, September 6, 2018, accessed on November 6, 2018 .  ( dpa message)
2. ↑ Liberal-Conservative Reformers: Two members of the state parliament leave Lucke party, faz.net June 12, 2017. .
3. ↑ General overview of the determination of state funds for 2018 (PDF), as of April 15, 2019
4. ^ Articles of Association - LKR. Archived from the original on February 27, 2017 ; accessed on February 26, 2017 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} party program - LKR. Archived from the original on February 27, 2017 ; accessed on February 26, 2017 . 
6. ↑ asylum concept of LKR. (PDF) September 2015, archived from the original on March 5, 2017 ; accessed on March 2, 2017 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} dpa: Lucke wants to drastically limit the admission of refugees. In: FAZ.net . September 5, 2015, accessed September 6, 2015 . 
8. ↑ - ( Memento from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ - ( Memento from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ How dearly do the refugees cost us? , FAZ of December 24, 2015
11. ↑ Orban's new German friends , Handelsblatt, September 17, 2015
12. ↑ Severin Weiland: Ex-AfD boss Lucke. "Höcke serves the xenophobic AfD supporters". In: Spiegel Online. October 29, 2015, accessed on January 26, 2017 (interview). 
13. ↑ party platform. Alliance for Progress and Awakening, June 4, 2016, archived from the original on July 4, 2016 ; accessed on January 26, 2017 . 
14. ↑ - ( Memento from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ TTIP - Answers to the main points of criticism - Bernd Lucke. Retrieved February 26, 2017 . 
16. ↑ Liberal Conservative Reformers - Imprint. In: www.lkr.de. Retrieved September 29, 2019 . 
17. ^ After the establishment of the regional association: Alfa is now active nationwide. In: Thuringian General . April 3, 2016, archived from the original on April 5, 2016 ; accessed on October 11, 2016 . 
18. ^ Website of the Young Reformers. Archived from the original on April 5, 2017 ; Retrieved April 4, 2017 . 
19. ↑ ALFA SME network founded in Kassel. In: Mittelstand-nachrichten.de. November 15, 2015, accessed December 12, 2015 . 
20. ↑ ALFA-Bund "ALFA puts AfD on their incompatibility list - de facto admission ban for former AfD members who did not leave by December 1st " - ( Memento from February 1st, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (Status: February 1st, 2016).
21. ^ ^{A b c} Justus Bender: Bernd Lucke's new party is called Alfa. In: FAZ.net . July 19, 2015, accessed July 19, 2015 . 
22. ↑ Federal Statutes, p. 5 (as of July 19, 2015).
23. ^ The "Erfurt Resolution" - wording and first signatory. In: The wing. March 14, 2015, accessed February 26, 2017 . 
24. ^ Wake-up call 2015 - Bernd Lucke . Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
25. ↑ Judgment of the court of arbitration: AfD boss Lucke has to resolve his "wake-up call" In: spiegel.de of June 23, 2015.
26. ↑ Paul Munzinger: "At the federal level, the Rumpf-AfD has no real chance". In: sueddeutsche.de . July 10, 2015, accessed August 15, 2015 . 
27. ↑ New party? Luckes supporters say yes. Tagesschau.de , July 9, 2015, archived from the original on July 11, 2015 ; Retrieved July 10, 2015 . 
28. ↑ ^{a b} dpa, Dietmar Neuerer: Bernd Lucke as boss: AfD renegades found new party "Alfa". In: handelsblatt.com . July 19, 2015, accessed July 20, 2015 . 
29. ^ AfD apostates make Lucke ALFA boss ( memento from January 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), mdr.de, July 19, 2015.
30. ↑ ^{a b} 7 becomes 1: This is how the AfD broke up in the EU Parliament , watson.de, May 26, 2019
31. ↑ Ex-AfDlers found a new group in the Bremen state parliament. In: Kreiszeitung . July 13, 2015, accessed April 14, 2017 . 
32. ↑ André Fesser: Three people from Bremen switch to Alfa. In: Weser Courier . July 21, 2015, accessed July 23, 2015 . 
33. ↑ Former Thuringian AfD member leaves Alfa party. Thüringer Allgemeine, October 22, 2015, accessed on October 23, 2015 . 
34. ^ Albert Schäffer: Abdication in the Palais. In: FAZ.net . July 20, 2015, accessed July 21, 2015 . 
35. ↑ New Lucke party "Alfa" has to fear for its name. In: WAZ. October 27, 2015, accessed April 14, 2017 . 
36. ↑ Court forbids Lucke Party to use the abbreviation Alfa. In: The world . May 24, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2017 . 
37. ↑ Justus Bender: Luckes Alfa party violates the right to vote. In: faz.net . December 9, 2015, accessed December 14, 2015 . 
38. ↑ Final approval of the parties and nominations for the state elections on March 13, 2016. Press release by the Baden-Württemberg State Returning Officer, published by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior , January 28, 2016, p. 3, accessed on March 10, 2016 (PDF; 58 , 8 KiB).
39. ↑ 14 parties apply to move into the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament ( Memento from January 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Press release on the state elections from January 6, 2016 in the web site of the Rhineland-Palatinate state returning officer ( memento from March 10, 2016 in the Internet archive ), accessed on March 10, 2016.
    All parties approved for state elections. In the state elections on March 13th in Rhineland-Palatinate, 14 parties will run. The state election committee in Mainz on Wednesday approved all election proposals submitted. As of January 6, 2016, 5:37 p.m. In: swr.de of the Südwestrundfunk A. d. Publicly Accessed and received on March 10, 2016.
40. ^ The State Returning Officer of the State of Saxony-Anhalt : Election of the 7th State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt on March 13, 2016. Applicants. ( Memento from February 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Published by the State Chancellery of Saxony-Anhalt , February 2016, p. 3, accessed on March 10, 2016 (PDF; 575 KiB).
41. ^ Preliminary result of the state elections in Baden-Württemberg on March 13, 2016 , Baden-Württemberg State Statistical Office
42. ↑ Preliminary result of the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on March 13, 2016 , State Statistical Office Saxony-Anhalt
43. ↑ Preliminary result of the state election in Rhineland-Palatinate on March 13, 2016 , Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate
44. ↑ News blog on state elections , spiegel.de
45. ↑ tagesschau.de: LKR party: tax money through questionable methods. Retrieved April 28, 2017 . 
46. ↑ Election to the state parliament in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 2016. Statistical Office MV: The state return officer, September 4, 2016, accessed on September 5, 2016 . 
47. ^ Elections to the House of Representatives. Retrieved October 2, 2016 . 
48. ↑ statistik-hessen.de , accessed October 25, 2016
49. ↑ Jörg Sanders: How did Bernd Luckes ALFA fare in the elections? In: New Osnabrück Newspaper . September 12, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2016 . 
50. ↑ RatsInformationsSystem of the City of Munich (accessed on February 7, 2019).
51. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH: New defeat: Luckes party is now nameless . November 2, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
52. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH: Party around Bernd Lucke: Alfa finds a new name . November 13, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
53. ^ Bild Zeitung: AfD dropouts cooperate with conservatives from the CDU. In: image . March 1, 2017, accessed March 1, 2017 . 
54. ↑ LKR press release: LKR and the Conservative Collection go together. (No longer available online.) In: lkr.de. Liberal Conservative Reformers (LKR), March 1, 2017, archived from the original on March 12, 2017 ; accessed on March 1, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
55. ↑ State Returning Officer Saarland: Final official election result of the 2017 state elections , Media Info 10/27 of April 5, 2017, accessed on April 6, 2017.
56. ^ WRS Softwareentwicklung GmbH: Election Results - Homepage. Archived from the original on May 7, 2017 ; accessed on May 8, 2017 . 
57. ^ Ministry of the Interior and Local Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia : State Electoral Committee allows 31 parties to vote in the state elections. April 5, 2017, archived from the original on April 6, 2017 ; Retrieved April 7, 2017 . 
58. ↑ State Returning Officer: State election 2017 in North Rhine-Westphalia. State Returning Officer, May 15, 2017, accessed on May 15, 2017 . 
59. ↑ State election in Lower Saxony on October 15, 2017 . In: Wahlrecht.de . ( Wahlrecht.de [accessed October 20, 2017]).
60. ↑ Lucke is the top candidate for the federal election. In: The time . June 4, 2016, accessed December 15, 2016 . 
61. ↑ LKR will not run in federal elections. In: The time . June 17, 2017. Retrieved June 17, 2016 . 
62. ↑ Liberal-Conservative Reformers - Die EURO-Kritiker , bpb.de, September 20, 2018
63. ↑ Results of the state elections in Bavaria 2018
64. ↑ State elections and referendums 2018 | Statistics.Hesse. Retrieved November 1, 2018 . 
65. ↑ What became of the AfD's “renegades”? , welt.de , April 16, 2019
66. ^ Despite student protests: AfD founder Bernd Lucke is teaching again at the University of Hamburg , stern.de , July 30, 2019