Schleswig-Holstein state election

[Jens]

Never mind that, are they sticking with Prussia or Denmark?

Denmark to the Ejder

I'm chearing for SSV, of cause

[Jens]

We gave back the majority Denish-speaking part in 1918. I think that was fair. Let the matter rest now.

tsk, tsk Lewis! it was in 1920 and on two occations the Slesvig-quetions caused the life of a Danish government. I 1920 when the king fired the Radical government because they wouldn't forcefully annex Flensborg after the city didn't vote Danish ( the king's actions caused a constitutional and political crisis and nearly turned Denmark into a republic) and in 1947 when the Venstre Prime minister Knud Kristensen wanted to annex most of South Slesvig (the Brits asked us if we wanted it) against the will of the Diet majority

[Jens]

I wrote a paper in college about the Kalmar Union.
I do know just a little about Denmark i think.

Sweet, then I guess that 1380 and 1397 should ring a bell. What kind of title do the english speaking give Margrethe I (she was never actually queen of Denmark, you know)?

[Jens]

Nah, he's right in that the CDU did a good bit better, and SPD and Greens worse, than the recent polls had predicted. I dunno what happened really. I hear that there was a TV debate a few days before the election and Carstensen performed better than Simonis...I hear there was a lot of rain (but turnout is only down minimally, so?)...or maybe the pollsters simply got it wrong.
Some notes:
Results by constituency show the Greens losing in the countryside and gaining in their urban strongholds.

CDU gains and SPD losses appear to be stronger both in the big cities and in the really rural areas, with the SPD vote holding up better in middling towns.

Although for most of the evening CDU and FDP had those 35 seats, they never were projected to have more votes than SPD+Greens+SSW. Now...apart from the fact that I never heard the fact mentioned on TV...the same thing almost happened in Saxony, too, a few months ago. CDU+FDP would have almost won a majority of the seats with fewer votes than SPD+PDS+NPD+Greens (not that those would have wanted to govern together, thanggod).

I sat around at my mom's place until half past eleven, when only two constituency results were outstanding and the TV channels were predicting a CDU/FDP win. I got home, turned on the radio, and heard the official result coming through. I had been a little shocked when I'd seen that self-same result projected at 6, but now I punched my fist in the air.

This isn't the first time we had to wait this long for official Schleswig-Holstein results...in 1992, the Greens failed to meet the 5% threshold by 57 votes, and the SPD maintained its majority of seats as a result.

That 5% threshold sometimes gives some pretty weird results, almost as twisted as FPTP
Besides that SSV lost a mandate Didn't see that comming. It looks like SSV will support a SPD-Grüne government, but some people are claiming that the Germans (funny how all SSV-voters suddenly became Danes/not-Germans) will not accept a minority government a la the Danish system. Anyway SSV is in the position that has been the party goal the last decade - let's see how Anke Spoorendonk handles that

[Jens]

Well, there was a pre-election poll of what people thought should happen in exactly the situation that has arisen.
52% said a Grand Coalition,
42% said red-green tolerated by SSW.

Safe to say that 80%+ of CDU supporters went with option one, so obviously the majority of SPD voters are comfy with a minority.

'
quelle surprise. Take a look at SSV's forum. It's filled with pleas not to support the current government from people who probably would call them selfs "conserned citizens of S-H" and of cause the the occational slightly hidden threat that if SSV supports the government people will turn against the Danes in Slesvig

[Jens]

How is the status of the SSW legally defined?  That is, could any party declare itself to be a minority party and not be be subject to the threshold, or are there other tests applied?

Can voters vote for any party?  Do the CDU or SPD appeal for Danish support, and how do they do so?

Voters can vote for any party. SSV's main group is the Danish and Frisian minorities but SSV also gets German votes. The SSV exeption from the threshold was part of an agreement between Denmark and BRD in the early fifthies where the Danish minority in South Schleswig and the German minority in North Schleswig/Sonderjutland got special priviliges

[Jens]

What became of that btw?

They still got them, but since we don't have a threshold on local level there wasn't any need for special rules on that one. (SSV still needs to get enough votes to win one seat. They are not garanteed a seat in the S-H parliament). Slesvigske Parti lost their mandate in the Diet in 1964 and hasn't been able to get enough votes since then (I think that they are excepted from the 2% threshold, but I'm not sure).
Today the special rights are German schools, kindergardens ect.
The newspaper Der Nordschleswiger is the paper for the German minority

[Jens]

How is the status of the SSW legally defined?  That is, could any party declare itself to be a minority party and not be be subject to the threshold, or are there other tests applied?

Can voters vote for any party?  Do the CDU or SPD appeal for Danish support, and how do they do so?

Voters can vote for any party. SSV's main group is the Danish and Frisian minorities but SSV also gets German votes. The SSV exeption from the threshold was part of an agreement between Denmark and BRD in the early fifthies where the Danish minority in South Schleswig and the German minority in North Schleswig/Sonderjutland got special priviliges

Is the exemption for the SSV spelled out for that particular party, or could any party declare that they target Danish and/or Frisian minorities.  For example, could a party adopt the platform of the CDU or SPD, but with an emphasis on minority advocacy, name itself with the Danish equivalent of the German party name and contest elections.  Its single member could always sit with its sister party.

Does the SSV contest elections for the German Parliament?

I do like that you use the Danish abbreviation

Sydslesvigske Vælgerforening SSV