Founding a political party

A party's internal organisation is governed by the general provisions of association law as laid down in Germany's Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) and the Political Parties Act (Parteiengesetz).

A party may take the legal form of either an association with legal capacity or an association without legal capacity. If a party is founded as an association with legal capacity, it must be entered in the register of associations maintained by the competent local court (registry court). Further information is available from the competent registry court.

Political parties may only be established by natural persons because only natural persons may be party members.

The following requirements apply when founding a party:

• a founding agreement must be concluded which expresses the desire of those involved to establish a political party;
• a resolution on the party's programme must be passed;
• a resolution on the party's statutes must be passed;
• the party's executive committee must be elected (in secret ballot) and be composed as laid down in the statutes (a minimum of three members are required, however);

minutes of the foundation meeting must be drawn up, documenting all the party's agreements, decisions and elections in as much detail as possible.

The Political Parties Act does not stipulate a minimum number of founding members. The party's executive committee, however, must have at least three members.

The Political Parties Act does not specify a minimum number of party members. However, an association can only have party status if it has enough members to ensure that it can seriously pursue its objectives. To date, a specific number of members has not been defined in court rulings or legal literature. Therefore, each association must still be considered individually and all aspects of its actual situation must be taken into account.

The full name of the political party and its shortened form must be clearly distinct from the names of existing parties. Party names which have an essential part in common are not clearly distinct from one another (Federal Court of Justice, judgment of 28 January 1981, file reference IV b ZR 581/80).

The protection of a party’s name is the responsibility of the private individuals involved and not the duty of the Federal Returning Officer. It is not possible to "reserve" party names with the Federal Returning Officer. Moreover, there is no legal entitlement to receive notification from the Federal Returning Officer about any similarities in the names of political associations.