From BZ/dpa
At the start of the hot phase of the election campaign in Berlin on Monday, several small parties such as the tenants’ party and the pirates pointed out that they would be disadvantaged
“We don’t have professional structures and end-to-end campaign financing,” they said on Friday. They are also unable to hire external service providers to provide support, for example with the hanging of election posters, which begins on Monday. “This makes an election campaign for small parties more difficult to manage financially and in terms of personnel.”
For an election campaign, small parties often have to use all the money available. Running an election campaign twice within a short period of time puts a disproportionate burden on small parties. “Since our budget is very tight, there is a risk of remaining invisible.”
On February 12, the elections to the House of Representatives and the district parliaments will be repeated in Berlin. In mid-November, the state constitutional court declared the September 2021 election invalid due to numerous glitches and “serious systemic deficiencies” and declared a complete repetition necessary.
“We would like to point out that the circumstances of the re-election lead to a systematic disadvantage for small parties,” criticized the Tenants’ Party, Pirates, Mountain Party, the Feminist Party Die Frauen and the Liberal Democrats.
They demand that public broadcasting be given a forum in the same way as the larger parties. In addition, there must also be a refund of campaign costs for small parties that receive less than one percent of the votes.