Ecological Democratic Party

The Ecological Democratic Party (German: Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei, ÖDP) is a conservative[4][5][6] and ecologist[7] political party in Germany. The ÖDP was founded in 1982 as a federal party and is the legal successor of the Green Action Future (Grüne Aktion Zukunft), the Green List for Environmental Protection (Grüne Liste Umweltschutz) and the Ecological Politics Working Group (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ökologische Politik).[8]

Ecological Democratic Party

Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei
AbbreviationÖDP
LeaderChristoph Raabs
Founded23/24 January 1982
HeadquartersÖDP-Federal Office Würzburg
Pommergasse 1
D-97070 Würzburg
[1]
Youth wingYoung Ecologists
Membership (2018) 8,035 [2]
IdeologyGreen conservatism
Environmentalism
Animal welfare
Degrowth[3]
Political positionCentre-right
International affiliationWorld Ecological Parties
European Parliament groupGreens/EFA
ColoursOrange
Bundestag
0 / 709
State Parliaments
0 / 1,855
European Parliament
1 / 96
Website
http://www.oedp.de/
Germany
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The strongest level of voting support for the ÖDP is in Bavaria, where in federal state elections they have remained stable with 2% of the votes since 1990, and at municipal level have increased their mandate count in 2014 from 320 to around 380.[9] After the 2019 European elections, the party was represented in the European Parliament by Klaus Buchner, who resigned in 2020. He was replaced in the European Parliament by Manuela Ripa. The ÖDP is a member of the World Ecological Parties.

Policies

The ÖDP combines issues which are not often found together: environmentalism, a focus on state financial support for families and childrearing, and a belief in consistent life ethic (that is, opposition to late abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty). The latter positions (as well as some other differences described below) have led some, including political scientist Joachim Raschke, to characterize the party as "conservative," but the party feels that all these positions are a consistent response to injustice. However, other commentators have said that the party has moved in a more liberal direction regarding some issues since the mid-2000s.[10] In most of those issues which it emphasizes, such as the environment and trade, it is similar to the Alliance '90/The Greens. It differs from the by being less supportive of immigration and restrictions on state powers in criminal justice issues, not focusing on gay and lesbian rights as part of its platform, and having a differing view of feminism.

It was one of the earliest supporters (since 1989) of a green tax shift, an idea which later gained broader support and has been partially implemented in Germany since the Social Democratic Party and The Greens were elected to form the federal government in 1998.

Though a very small party – it has not gained seats in a state parliament or in the Bundestag – the ÖDP became notable for its involvement in the opposition to a Czech nuclear reactor in Temelin, across the border from Bavaria. It led an initiative for a popular referendum to abolish the Bavarian Senate (that state's upper house) which was successful. It brought suit against a law in North Rhine-Westphalia which requires parties to receive 5% of the vote in order to take their seats in local councils, as well as a national law which reserves state financing only for parties that got more than one percent of the vote in at least three state elections; both laws were overturned.

The party has a youth organization called Young Ecologists (Junge Ökologen).

In the 2014 European parliament elections, the ÖDP received 0.7% of the national vote (185,119 votes in total) and returned a single MEP.[11] The MEP, Klaus Buchner, joined The Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) parliamentary group.[12]

Controversy

On 17 December 2014, a single member of the Memmingen/Unterallgäu chapter of the ÖDP said at a meeting, that the proposed gender mainstreaming law was a "state license to corrupt children" and would give LGBT individuals "too much influence over a passive majority", and that LGBT individuals should not be allowed to marry.[13] Party secretary Pablo Ziller said that the party's federal board was "disappointed" at the remarks and that the statements did not represent the party's position. According to Ziller, the party believes in extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Leaders
Klaus BuchnerBernd Richter


The current leader of the party is Christian Rechholz. He succeeded Christoph Raabs in September2020.[14]

Election results

German Parliament (Bundestag)
Election year # of
constituency votes		 % +/- # of
party list votes		 % +/- # of
overall seats won		 +/-
1983 3,341 0.0 New 11,028 0.0 New
0 / 520
1987 40,765 0.1 0.1 109,152 0.3 0.3
0 / 519
1990 243,469 0.5 0.2 205,206 0.4 0.1
0 / 662
1994 200,138 0.4 0.1 183,715 0.4
0 / 672
1998 145,308 0.3 0.1 98,257 0.2 0.2
0 / 669
2002 56,593 0.1 0.2 56,898 0.1 0.1
0 / 603
2005 Did not participate
2009 105,653 0.2 0.2 132,249 0.3 0.3
0 / 622
2013 128,209 0.3 0.1 127,088 0.3
0 / 630
2017 166,228 0.4 0.1 144,809 0.3
0 / 709

European Parliament
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 +/- # of
overall seats won		 +/–
1984 77,026 0.3 New
0 / 81
 New
1989 184,309 0.7 0.4%
0 / 81
1994 273,776 0.8 0.1%
0 / 99
1999 100,048 0.4 0.4%
0 / 99
2004 145,537 0.6 0.2%
0 / 99
2009 134,893 0.5 0.1%
0 / 99
2014 185,244 0.6 0.1%
1 / 96
 1
2019 370,006 1.0 0.4%
1 / 96

State Parliaments (Landtage)

The following table shows the results of the most recent state elections the party contested:

State election, year Votes % of

vote

 Rank Seats won +/– Status
Hamburg, 2015[15] 13,621 0.4 #10
0 / 121
 - Extra-parliamentary
Baden-Württemberg, 2016[16] 38,509 0.7 #8
0 / 143
 - Extra-parliamentary
Rhineland-Palatinate, 2016[17] 8,623 0.4 #11
0 / 101
 - Extra-parliamentary
Berlin, 2016[18] 295 0.0 #21
0 / 160
 - Extra-parliamentary
North Rhine-Westphalia, 2017[19] 13,288 0.2 #10
0 / 199
 - Extra-parliamentary
Lower Saxony, 2017[20] 4,042 0.1 #14
0 / 137
 - Extra-parliamentary
Bavaria, 2018 211,748 1.6 #9
0 / 200
 - Extra-parliamentary
Hesse, 2018 7,530 0.3 #11
0 / 110
 - Extra-parliamentary

References
  1. "ÖDP Branch addresses and contacts". Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  2. "Small German EU Parliament Parties One Year Ahead of National Parliament Election". europeelects.eu.
  3. "Small German EU Parliament Parties One Year Ahead of National Parliament Election". europeelects.eu.
  4. Bert Klandermans; Nonna Mayer (16 November 2005). Extreme Right Activists in Europe: Through the Magnifying Glass. Routledge. p. 171–. ISBN 978-1-134-24546-8.
  5. Günter Buchstab (2010). Die Ära Kohl im Gespräch: eine Zwischenbilanz. Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. p. 311–. ISBN 978-3-412-20592-8.
  6. Wilhelm Hofmann (2005). Politische Identität - visuell. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 71–. ISBN 978-3-8258-8471-0.
  7. Max Spindler; Alois Schmid (2003). Das neue Bayern: Staat und Politik. C.H.Beck. p. 972–. ISBN 978-3-406-50451-8.
  8. Satzung der Ökologisch-Demokratischen Partei (Bundessatzung) (Statute of the Ecological Democratic Party (Federal Statute)), in German.
  9. "ÖDP Bayern: Mandatsträger". oedp-bayern.de. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  10. Schminke, Tobias Gerhard (13 August 2020). "Small German EU Parliament Parties One Year Ahead of National Parliament Election". Europe Elects. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "Up-to-date list of the MEPs for the new legislative period". greens-efa.eu. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  13. "ÖDP: Homos raus aus dem Standesamt". queer.de. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  14. "ÖDP wählt den Oberfranken Raabs zum neuen Bundesvorsitzenden". br.de.
  15. "Bürgerschaftswahl in Hamburg am 15. Februar 2015". Wahlrecht.de (in German). Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  16. "Landtagswahl in Baden-Württemberg am 13. März 2016". Wahlrecht.de (in German). Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  17. "Landtagswahl in Rheinland-Pfalz am 13. März 2016". Wahlrecht.de (in German). Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  18. "Abgeordnetenhauswahl in Berlin am 18. September 2016". Wahlrecht.de (in German). Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  19. "Landtagswahl am 14. Mai 2017 in Nordrhein-Westfalen". Wahlrecht.de (in German). Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  20. "Election results PDF" (PDF) (in German). 15 October 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
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