Political Parties Act (Germany)
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Law on Political Parties |
| Short title: | Party law |
| Abbreviation: | [PartG, also: PartyG, PartiesG] (not official) |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: | Constitutional law |
| References : | 112-1 |
| Original version from: | July 24, 1967 ( BGBl. I p. 773 ) |
| Entry into force on: | July 28, 1967 |
| New announcement from: | January 31, 1994 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 149 ) |
| Last change by: |
Art. 342 Regulation of June 19, 2020 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1328, 1368 ) |
| Effective date of the last change: |
June 27, 2020 (Art. 361 of June 19, 2020) |
| Weblink: | Text of the law |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The political party law is a German federal law that regulates the exact processes within a political party in Germany . Although Article 21, Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law had already stipulated that further provisions would be regulated by federal laws since the Basic Law came into force , it took until July 24, 1967, before the first Law on Political Parties was passed, mainly because of the controversial party funding .
In order to be considered a political party within the meaning of the Political Parties Act, the political grouping according to Section 2 (1) of the Party Act must be an association of citizens who are permanently or for a longer period of time for the federal or state level on the formation of political will Want to exert influence and participate in the representation of the people in the German Bundestag or a state parliament . Voting communities , such as those running in local elections to be included in the respective local council, are therefore not parties. The expression “Association of Citizens ” also means that the founding of parties is primarily due to citizens (ie Germans within the meaning of Article 116 (1) of the Basic Law ). According to Section 2 (3) of the Political Party Act, political associations are therefore expressly not parties if the majority of their members or the members of their board are foreigners .
The rough structure of a party is regulated in Article 21, Paragraph 1, Sentence 3 of the Basic Law. So must a party
- be structured according to democratic principles (see also intra-party democracy ) ,
- submit a program ,
- to lay down a statute ,
- Have members.
In addition, according to Article 21.2 of the Basic Law, it must not set itself the goal of destroying democracy, since otherwise it violates the free democratic basic order (Article 20.1 to 3 of the Basic Law).
The law on political parties, especially the provisions on party financing, has been amended several times due to rulings by the Federal Constitutional Court and after several scandals about party donations. After the Criminal Code had been the main criminal law instrument for violations of the Political Parties Act up until then , the legislature decided in 2002 to criminalize the intentional concealment of origin or incorrect information about the income of the parties in Section 31d of the Party Act. The party law thus became part of secondary criminal law .
Individual evidence
- ↑ BGBl. 1949 p. 1, 3 , today the regulation can be found in paragraph 5.
- ↑ Cf. Frank Saliger: Political Party Law and Criminal Law. On the criminal liability of violations of the Political Parties Act, in particular for breach of trust in accordance with Section 266 of the Criminal Code . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2005, ISBN 3-16-148467-3 .
- ↑ Cf. Burkhard Küstermann: The transparency requirement of Article 21, Paragraph 1, Clause 4 of the Basic Law and its design by the party law . V & R Unipress, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89971-124-6 .
literature
- Gero von Daniels: When political attitudes are put to the test - the party law . In: Politics & Communication (p & k) . Vol. 7, H. 7, 2008, ISSN 1610-5060 , pp. 22-25.
- Jörn Ipsen (Ed.): Political parties law. Law on Political Parties. Comment . CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-57531-0 .
- Jens Kersten, Stephan Rixen (Hrsg.): Political parties law (PartG) and European political party law. Comment . Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-17-019131-0 .
- Sophie-Charlotte Lenski: Law on political parties and the right to list candidates. Hand comment . Nomos, Baden-Baden 2011, ISBN 978-3-8329-1393-9 .
