Rage finds an outlet : Germany finally elects a sceptic

Bürger in Wut (BIW) is a new German political party, (its name translates roughly as Citizens in Rage) of a eurocritical bent.

They stood for election earlier this year in the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen as it calls itself. The Bremen Parliament (Bürgerschaft) has a twin role as the elected City Council of Bremen (Stadtbürgerschaft) and the Parliament of the State of Bremen (Landtag). It has 83 members (68 from Bremen and 15 from Bremerhaven). The 68 members elected in the city of Bremen have a dual mandate: They are Members of Parliament and Members of the City Council.

BIW also participated but missed the 5 % minimum required by a single vote getting 4.998%. However there were some complaints abbout the way the election was handled and there was a re-election in one ward Bremerhaven on 6th July 2008. In this ward district BIW picked up 27% of the votes, so that the total result is 5,29 percent, that means one seat in the Bremen parliament. Jan Timke, as the BIW top candidate, will be taking up his seat soon.