The South Schleswig Voter Federation (German: Südschleswigscher Wählerverband, Danish: Sydslesvigsk Vælgerforening, North Frisian: Söödschlaswiksche Wäälerferbånd) is a regional political party in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It represents the Danish and Frisian minorities.
The SSW declines to identify itself with a left-right-scale, but it models its policies on the Scandinavian countries, which often means favoring a strong welfare state, but, on the other hand, a more free-market labour policy than the German model. It is represented in the diet (Landtag) of Schleswig-Holstein and several regional and municipal councils. It has not contested federal elections since 1965.
As a party for the ethnic Danish minority in Southern Schleswig, the SSW is not subject to the general requirement of passing a 5% vote threshold in order to receive proportional seats in the state parliament (Landtag). In the most recent 2012 election, the SSW received 4.6% of the vote and four seats.
In the 2005 election the SSW received 3.6% (two seats). This was enough for the SSW to hold the balance of power between the national parties of the left and right, and the SSW elected to support a SPD-Green coalition, without entering the coalition itself. This resulted in criticism from the CDU and from German national conservative circles, who asserted that since the SSW had been granted a special status, it was obliged to defend only minority interests and that its status should be revoked if the SSW behaved like a 'regular' party. The SSW representatives, however, insisted on the full value of their parliamentary seats and their equal rights as German citizens. One particular point was that the SSW had taken a strong position on educational principles in the state (abolishing ability grouping in secondary schools). The CDU argued that since there were separate Danish language schools, it was unreasonable for the SSW to involve itself in the affairs of the public schools.
As the planned SPD-Greens coalition did not make it into office after the 2009 elections, a CDU-FDP coalition was created and the SSW joined the opposition.
In the 2012 state election, the SSW gained 4.6% of all votes and 3 seats in the state diet. A coalition of SPD, Green Party and SSW was born in June 2012, and the former parliamentary leader, Anke Spoorendonk, was appointed Minister for Culture, Justice and European Affairs. This is the first time in German history that a minority party is part of a state government. The new coalition government has plenty of nicknames, for instance "Dänen-Ampel" ("Dane-traffic light"), "Schleswig-Holstein-Ampel", "Küstenampel" (Coastal traffic light) and "Nord-Ampel" (North traffic light).
Read more about South Schleswig Voter Federation: SSWUngdom
Famous quotes containing the words south and/or federation:
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Women realize that we are living in an ungoverned world. At heart we are all pacifists. We should love to talk it over with the war-makers, but they would not understand. Words are so inadequate, and we realize that the hatred must kill itself; so we give our men gladly, unselfishly, proudly, patriotically, since the world chooses to settle its disputes in the old barbarous way.”
—General Federation Of Women’s Clubs (GFWC)