Parody group Die Partei wins over German voters

A satirical party is attempting to shake up the German political landscape by appealing to young voters frustrated with traditional parties.

Die Partei (The Party), founded more than a decade ago by satirical magazine editors, has “quietly amassed a significant following”, according to Deutche Welle.

It celebrated its first major electoral victory in 2014, when one of its members, Martin Sonneborn, was elected to the European Parliament, but it currently holds no seats in the German Bundestag.

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Its manifesto for next week’s federal election is “replete with meaningless political platitudes pushed to the edge of absurdity”, the broadcaster reports.

Die Partei says it supports the implementation of “all-encompassing, universal, total justice, at least twice as much justice as the Social Democratic Party”.

But even professional pranksters can have earnest political objectives, says The Washington Post.

"[By] luring non-voters to his joke party, Sonneborn is trying to diminish the share of support captured by Alternative for Germany (AfD), a nationalist, anti-immigrant party,” the newspaper says.

The Berlin-based party now now boasts some 24,000 members, not far off the 25,000 currently in the AfD, says Deutche Welle, and has won enough votes in the past to be entitled to state support.

However, experts predict it is unlikely to secure the five per cent needed to gain MPs in next week’s vote.

Die Partei candidate Nico Semsrott, who is standing in Berlin, told The Independent that if the voting age was lowered to 16, his party could win up to 20 per cent of the vote.

“I believe we can enter the Bundestag, maybe not in four years but maybe in eight years,” he said.