Citizens in Rage

Citizens in Rage
Bürger in Wut
Leader Jan Timke
Founded March 2004
Headquarters Berlin
Ideology Right-wing populism
Nationalism
Political position Right-wing
State Parliaments
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Website
http://www.buerger-in-wut.de

Citizens in Rage (German: Bürger in Wut (BIW)) is a German right-wing populist voters' association represented in the state parliament of Bremen. It is led by Jan Timke.

It was founded in March 2004 as a successor to the Bremen section of the Party for a Rule of Law Offensive ("Schill party"). Its focus has been on crime fighting and immigration policy.

The association participated in the 2007 Bremen parliamentary election. Bremen electoral law has a threshold that a party must surmount by winning 5% of the popular vote, either in the city of Bremen, or in Bremerhaven. Citizens in Rage contested the smaller constituency of Bremerhaven. According to the official results, the association won 2,216 votes or 4.998% – only one vote short of the threshold. Thereupon, Citizens in Rage requested a re-count. The competent court detected relevant mistakes in the elections in the constituency of Bremerhaven, and imposed an election rerun in one voting precinct. In the rerun on 6 July 2008, Citizens in Rage won 27.6% of the popular vote in the concerned precinct, which revised the Bremerhaven result of the movement up to 5.29% – enough for one seat in the state parliament.

In the 2011 Bremen state election, Citizens in Rage could report significant gains: they won 3.7% of the popular vote statewide – in contrast to 0.8% in 2007, and could defend their seat in the state legislative.

Citizens in Rage see themselves as democratic conservative[1], although anti-establishment. Political scientists and observers classify the movement as right-wing populist,[2][3] but not extremist or anti-constitutional.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Politische Ziele der BÜRGER IN WUT (Political aims of CITIZENS IN RAGE)", Buerger-in-Wut.de (in German), retrieved 8 Aug 2011
  2. ↑ Krämer, Wolf (December 2010), "Rechtsextremismus und Fremdenfeindlichkeit in Bremerhaven" (PDF), Situations-, Akteurs- und Ressourcenanalyse für den Lokalen Aktionsplan Bremerhaven (in German), University of Bremen, p. 12
  3. ↑ Lucardie, Paul (2007), "Populismus im Parteiensystem in Deutschland und den Niederlanden", Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (in German), Federal Agency for Civic Education (35–36)
  4. ↑ "Wahl in Bremen: "Bürger in Wut" – Der Erfolg des Geert Wilders von Bremen", Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German), 23 May 2011
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