In October, the people of Bavaria will elect a new state parliament. How does the election work – and who has a chance of success? The most important information at a glance.
The most important things at a glance
Who is currently ruling in Bavaria?
The government made up of CSU and Free Voters under Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) has been in office since October 12, 2018. It is the only government in Germany with the participation of the Free Voters. Söder forms the cabinet with 17 other people: four ministers and ten ministers, one state secretary and two state secretaries. Five of them are Free Voters. The CSU has provided the Prime Minister without interruption since 1957.
Why is Bavaria a Free State?
According to the Basic Law, the 16 federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany all have equal rights. But there are three free states: Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia. That doesn’t mean that the people there are freer than in other federal states. Rather, the reason for the designation lies in the past. Bavaria was a kingdom until 1918. After a revolution, the new rulers proclaimed the republic and called the state Freistaat Bayern – they had freed themselves from the monarchy.
Why is the CSU only in Bavaria?
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) forms a parliamentary group with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The special feature: The CSU only contests the elections in Bavaria, the CDU in all federal states except Bavaria. The two related parties are formally independent of each other, but act as a united union in the federation.
As in all of Germany, in 1945, after the end of the Second World War, many bourgeois and conservative forces also came together in Bavaria to oppose the SPD and KPD as Christian people’s parties.
Originally, the CSU was to be called “Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern”, but the party’s founders wanted to keep the option open of expanding throughout Germany and decided on the name “Christlich-Soziale Union”.
In 1947 a “working group of the Christian-Democratic and Christian-Social Union of Germany” was founded as an organizational link between the zone and state associations of the Union parties. In January 1948, the CSU officially rejected a merger with the other Union parties. In May 1950, the state associations of the CDU agreed to found a federal CDU party without Bavarian participation.
Who can vote?
All adult Germans who have lived in Bavaria for at least three months on the day of the election and are not excluded from voting as a result of a judge’s decision are entitled to vote. According to an estimate by the Bavarian State Office for Statistics, around 9.4 million people in Bavaria will be able to cast their votes this year. Around 554,000 young people are allowed to vote for the first time because of their age. In 2018, about 80,000 more people were eligible to vote.
The statistics authority attributes the fact that the number of voters has decreased primarily to demographic change. In Bavaria, for example, there are still more deaths than newborns, which also affects the number of voters. The majority of people who immigrate to Bavaria do not have German citizenship and can therefore not take part in the election.
When and how can people vote?
The 19th state election in Bavaria will take place on 8. October 2023 instead of. At the same time, the citizens elect the seven Bavarian district assemblies, which have far fewer powers than the state parliament and are therefore less well known. Every person entitled to vote will receive a voting card in advance by mail with the polling station assigned to them.
If someone does not want to go there on election Sunday, but would rather vote by post, they can do so at any time, but no later than October 6, 2023, 3 p.m. submit an application for a polling card. Those who choose to cast their ballots at the polling station will need photo ID to confirm their identity. All polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. that day.
