The state (Bundesland) Schleswig-Holstein is one of 16 states in the Federal Republic of Germany. According to the federal constitution the states bear responsibility for educational and cultural politics, the police and the implementation of federal policies, which are decided by the federal government and the national parliament (Bundestag). In the second national chamber, the so called federal council (Bundesrat), the state governments take influence on federal legislation.

  

The "Landtag" in Kiel is the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein. The Landtag elects the state prime minister and passes the state laws. Since 2009 Schleswig-Holstein has been ruled by a coalition government of Conservatives (CDU) and the Liberal Party (FDP). The prime minister is the conservative Mr. Peter Harry Carstensen.

The Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein - a remainder from the time before 1864, when Schleswig-Holstein belonged to Denmark - has its own political party, the South Schleswig Voters' Committee (Südschleswigscher Wählerverband, SSW). The SSW also takes care of the political affairs of the national Friesians, who live in the area North-Friesia at the North Sea coast of the state.

The German electoral laws provide that parties of the Danish minority are exempt from the minimum of 5 % of the votes, which is usually necessesary to enter German parliaments at state and federal level. But there is still a minimum amount of votes which the SSW must achieve: The party needs at least as many votes as the last (and "cheapest") seat in parliament will "cost" according to the allocation mechanism of the proportional representation system. Usually the Landtag has 69 seats, which means that the SSW usually needs some 20.000 votes to get a seat if there is an average voter turnout.

The SSW has been represented in the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag since 1947 - with a short break from 1954-58.

Since the beginning of the 1980s the amount of SSW-votes at Landtag-elections had been steadily increasing. At the election in 1996 the SSW got 38.000 votes, which meant that the party for the first time since the 1960s achieved two seats in the Landtag. The poll in february 2000 continued the series of good election results: 60.367 votes and 4,1 %, the best outcome since 1950.

At the state election in September 2009 the SSW got 69.438 votes (4,3 %) and wone four seats in parliament.

The minority party is represented in the 17th Schleswig-Holstein Landtag (for the years 2009-2014) by Ms Anke Spoorendonk, the Friesian Mr Lars Harms, Ms Silke Hinrichsen and Mr Flemming Meyer.

The SSW has not nominated candidates for federal German elections since 1965.

The SSW is also represented in regional and local councils in South-Schleswig by a total of 136 members. In some areas the SSW has an important political influence due to the fact that Danish and Friesian politicians tip the scale in some councils.

Statistic information
The SSW is represented by:

• 136 members in 82 local councils
• 4 members of the regional council of North Friesia
• 6 members of the regional council of Schleswig-Flensburg
• 11 members of the city council of Flensburg
   
  The SSW proclaims policies which respond closely to the societal and political development in the Nordic countries. The party aims at giving the Schleswig-Holstein politics new impulses on these conditions - e. g. in labour market, social, educational and energy policies. The SSW stands for a decentralized democratic life, as it is carried out in the Scandinavian countries: Political decisions must be made as close to the citizens as possible, and the citizens may have the possibility to take direct influence on the decisions.

"This is what we want!" - Some central political claims of the SSW

• Equal rights for all cultures in South Schleswig.
• The promotion of the Danish/German border region.
• The development of South Schleswig through economic structural support for the region.
• A stable, social security based on solidarity and financed by taxes.
• A humane care for the elderly and physically/mentally disabled persons.
• Participation of children and young in political decisions.
• A democratic educational policy and the decentralization of educational institutions.
• An active labour market policy.
• The realization of the equality of women and men.
• A civil service which is orientated to the citizens' demands.
• A liberal domestic policy
• The connection of South Schleswig to the traffic systems of Scandinavia and Central Europe.
• Ecologically based traffic, energy and waste policies.
• The promotion of decentral and alternative energy sources.
• The promotion of nature reservates.