A political party that polls just 0.06 percent of the popular vote in a national election would seem to be headed for oblivion. But the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) took encouragement from that showing in January’s Bundestag elections and will participate in upcoming local elections, its leaders have announced.
NPD was heartened because under federal law any party which exceeds 0.05 percent in an election is eligible for generous public funding. The 250,000 votes cast for the NPD translates into several million Marks. This will allow it to broaden its organizational structure and advance its political activities.
NPD is expected to enter candidates in the state elections in Hesse, Bremen and possibly Hamburg.
Although the leaders concede they have little chance of winning seats in those legislatures, participation in the elections will give the NPD a chance to show it has solid, though marginal, support among the electorate.
Of the several neo-Nazi political groups in the Federal Republic, the NPD is the most “respectable” and the oldest. It had some success in State parliamentary elections in the 1970s, but soon faded and presently holds no seats in any legislative body.
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