Party switching

A change of party is the outlet of a politician from a party and entering another.

General

In democracies, a party change is a legitimate process. The incidence of party change depends on the stability of the party system. While party crossings are rare in Germany, they take place in other (especially southern ) countries more often. In a number of States with low pronounced democratic tradition it comes to Party Jump for money, offices, or other benefits, the so-called deputies purchase. Substitution of parties occur frequently when parties make a change of direction, form new coalitions or party cleavage occurs.

So led the decision of the FDP in 1969 to enter into a Social-Liberal coalition with the SPD, to a variety of Party Jump National Liberal MPs towards the opposition parties. As a result, Willy Brandt lost computationally his majority in the Bundestag. The subsequent no-confidence vote held off Brandt only by the vote of two dissenters in the opposition, of which Julius Steiner had accepted bribes of the Stasi.

Among the European countries, especially in Italy, there are frequent party changes, which affect the stability of governments. Since 1945, Italy experienced more than 60 government training.

Dual membership in several parties

It happens that politicians join other parties without exiting their old party. The statutes of the parties close but usually dual affiliation so categorically that a process of elimination from the previous party is then inevitable.

Losses of mandates

A key issue in party crossings, the question is whether offices or mandates, which has won for or on lists of the previous party of the politician in question, are abandoning the party change. This is essential especially in list elections in which one substitutes the previous party would receive the mandate ( which the majority in the parliament would not change).

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the principle of the free mandate applies. Consequence of this free mandate is that the politicians who changes the party gets to keep his seat.

This is not true everywhere. See or saw in front of a cessation of the mandate for change of party A number of states. This is justified by the prevention of Deputies purchases often. A historical example is the Political Parties Act of 1962 from Pakistan.

Also in the first free parliamentary election in 1990 regulated § 41 para 2 parliamentary elections law that a party change should result in the loss of the People's Chamber mandate by itself. On 20 July 1990, the People's Chamber changed the electoral law, and allowed the change of Peter -Michael Diestel of the DSU to the CDU and the resolution of the DBD / DFD Group.