Bremen "state" election (May 13, 2007)

[Kevinstat]

Who are "Schill?"  Was that the party that splintered off the SPD to the right for or sometime before the 1995 election?  They came pretty close to the 5% mark in both cities.  Any party getting 5% of the vote or more in Bremen would get at least 3 seats (5% of 67, the number of seats in the Breman state parliament from Bremen, is 3.35), and I imagine any party getting 5% or more of the vote in Bremerhaven (where Captian Von Trapp was supposed to report to to accept his commission in the German Navy in The Sound of Music, which was recently on ABC Familly) would get 1 seat as it would have 0.8 Hare (total votes / # of seats) quotas and it would be odd for a party to pass the threshold without getting any seats.  So the "Schill" party could conceivably be in the running for four seats (4.8% of the state parliament) and, if the SPD vote held up, could form a coalition with them.  Could someone tell me what the ideology and raison d'etre for "Schill" is (when and how it was formed, and if it is nation- or northwest Germany-wide or if it is limited to the state of Bremen), if they have a chance of passing the 5% barrier in either city, if they ever have, and who they might form a coalition (governing or opposition, in preparation for a future election) with?  This would obviously be affected by who might form a coalition with them and how they might stack up (including the number of seats they have to other) with other potential coalition partners).

[Kevinstat]

I believe Schill means others, as in other parties, but I might be wrong the numbers for Schill look near the normal for the vote of "others" in German polls.

I know Jens has already answered this question, although I will add the address for the Wikipedia article on the original "Schill Party" which expelled Schill in December 2003 (reminds me of the "Connecticut for Lieberman" party being taken over by Lieberman opponents) according to Wikipedia (yeah, I know anyone can edit that site, but I'm hoping these articles are accurate).  I thought I might mention, however, that the numbers for Schill in the original post on this thread were for the last election rather than a poll.  Although 2.6% of voters in the Bremen state election voted for "Others" parties as Wikipedia defined them in the 2003 election Bremen state election according to Wikipedia.

[Kevinstat]

I'm glad to see the Engish-speaking world (I've known about the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in the UK for some time) doesn't have a monopoly on gadfly candidates.