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🇦🇹 Austria /Elections & Politics

Minor Party Challenges Bavaria's Söder with Term Limit Initiative

From Der Standard · () German

Translated from German, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • The ÖDP, a minor party in Bavaria, is seeking to limit the term of long-serving Minister-President Markus Söder to ten years through a popular initiative.
  • Söder, who plans to run for re-election in 2025, previously supported term limits, a stance he now appears to distance himself from.
  • The ÖDP, with only 1.8% of the vote in the last state election, is significantly smaller than Söder's CSU party.

A small Bavarian party is challenging the political future of long-serving Minister-President Markus Söder by initiating a popular vote to cap his tenure at ten years. The Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei (ÖDP) aims to force a referendum on term limits for the state's leader.

This move revives a demand previously voiced by Söder himself, who is expected to seek re-election as the CSU party's top candidate in the 2025 state elections. However, Söder now seems reluctant to embrace the idea of term limits, a position he once advocated.

Despite its past support for term limits, the ÖDP remains a minor player in Bavarian politics. In the October 2023 state election, the party garnered only 245,145 votes, representing 1.8% of the total. This performance was far from sufficient to secure any seats in the Bavarian state parliament, especially when compared to the CSU's 5.06 million votes and 37% share.

DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Der Standard in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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