@article{2014:edinger:verfassung,
title = {Verfassungsmäßigkeit der Befreiung des Südschleswigschen Wählerverbands (SSW) von der Fünf-Prozent-Klausel. Zum Urteil des Schleswig-Holsteinischen Landesverfassungsgerichts vom 13. September 2013},
year = {2014},
note = {In Schleswig-Holstein, one of the 16 German federal states (Länder),
the Danish national minority’s political participation is ensured by
the South Schleswig Voters’ Association (Südschleswigsche
Wählerverband, SSW) which is exempted from the 5-percent threshold in
the elections to State Parliament. Since the 2012 election, the SSW is
part of the government coalition, together with the Social Democratic
and the Green Party. The constitutional court of Schleswig-Holstein
had to decide whether the 5-percent threshold and the exemption of the
SSW is constitutional. The court affirmed the 5-percent threshold as
well as the exemption of the minority’s party. The purpose of the
exemption is to integrate the ethnic minority into the democratic
system of Schleswig-Holstein. Therefore its party has the right to act
as any other political party, including the right to be part of a
government coalition. [ZParl, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 460 – 464]},
journal = {ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen},
pages = {460--464},
author = {Edinger, Florian},
volume = {45},
number = {2}
}