Brandenburg constitutional court also annuls parity law

reThe Brandenburg Constitutional Court struck down the parity law for filling party candidate lists in future state elections, such as Thuringia’s constitutional judges prior to regulation there. The law restricts the freedoms of parties to nominate candidates and thus participate in elections, the court announced on Friday in the verdict in Potsdam. The law required parties to fill their candidate lists with an equal number of men and women. The ruling is a setback for similar efforts in other federal states and at the federal level.

The court upheld two lawsuits by the NPD and the AfD, which consider that the law seriously damages the freedom of choice and the freedom of organization of the parties. In addition, four AfD members of the state parliament had filed constitutional complaints.

Brandenburg was the first federal state with such a parity law. It forced the parties to alternately fill their candidate lists with an equal number of women and men in state elections. Last year, the state parliament voted in favor of the law by a majority, and it has been in effect since June 30 this year. The president of the Brandenburg state parliament, Ulrike Liedtke, defended the regulation. If half the population is women, the equitable representation of women is a democratic imperative, she said at the August hearing. A parity regulation has been or is being discussed in several federal states.

In July, the Thuringian Constitutional Court struck down the provision in the state electoral law, according to which parties must alternate between men and women on their candidate lists for state elections. The justices basically argued that the Parity Law undermined the right to freedom and equal choice and the right of political parties to freedom of activity, freedom of programs, and equal opportunities.