Volksinitiative To Run 18 Candidates Opposing Irresponsible Wind Projects in Brandenburg State Election
Volksinitiative, a citizen group in the state of Brandenburg has met the necessary requirements to get eighteen candidates on the state ballot for the September 27th election. They are seeking election on a single issue platform – namely, opposing irresponsible wind development.
Like Wind Concerns Ontario, the Volksinitiative seeks a minimum setback of 1.5 KM for wind projects, and has been actively opposing irresponsible development and government attempts to push these projects on communities against the wishes of local municipalities and residents. Volksinitiative is seeking protection of conservation lands, emphasis on construction in ‘conflict free areas’, the decommissioning of current projects that do not meet setback requirements and a protection of local planning by municipalities of renewable energy projects.
As part of their activism, members of the Volksinitiative collected over 27 000 signatures opposing irresponsible wind projects, an impressive number, especially in a state with fewer than three million people. With 18 candidates seeking election in a system that uses mixed member proportional representation, and based on their ability to collect 27 000 signatures, it is reasonable to expect they could well shake up politics in Brandenburg and send a very loud message to the government of their state.
Generally speaking, I would support the election of Volksinitiative members to the Landtag of Brandenburg, because it would allow the voices of citizens who have been shut out of decision making by their leaders to be active in all government affairs, while advocating their primary issue. Based on the electoral system in Germany, single issue parties do have some hope of winning seats without having to tie themselves to a party, something Ontarians unfortunately cannot do.
Europeans are standing up. There are 630 citizens groups in Europe fighting poorly planned projects and irresponsible regulations. They unite under the umbrella of the European Platform Against Windpower www.epaw.org. It is safe to say many members of Wind Concerns Ontario are sympathetic to the cause of EPAW, Volksinitiative and others who are fighting similar fights on that side of the pond.
I personally wish the folks at Volksinitiative the best of luck in the upcoming state election and hope that they are able to take advantage of the openness of their electoral system to get some representation for residents.
For more information on Volksinitiative, visit this Google Translate version of their website.
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Tags: Brandenburg State Elections, EPAW, European Platform Against Windpower, Landtag of Brandenburg, Political Action, Volksinitiative, Wind Concerns Ontario
August 29th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Indeed, if this group can get 5% or more of the vote on Sept. 27, they will elect MPPs to the provincial parliament.
They use the variation some Ontario voters did not like: half of their MPPs come from closed province-wide lists. However, this is not the only variation available. The German province of Bavaria uses an open-list system with seven regions. The additional regional MPPs are those who get the most votes in the regions, regardless of their position on the list.
That would work well in Canada:
http://wilfday.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-would-proportional-house-of.html