Local Party Systems in Germany

The aim of the project, which was carried out as part of the DFG project ´Local Party systems in Deutschland´, is to identify and compare existing local party systems and their development patterns at the local level since reunification. The local party systems were identified over time on the basis of four factors: 1. local political culture, 2. changes in local election law, 3. degree of organisation of local political actors and 4. structural contextual characteristics (size of municipality, local economic power, etc.). To this end, the results of the local elections from 1990 to 2016 were supplemented by local indicators of municipal statistics. There are a total of 35 indicators from the areas of population, labour market, land use and finances.

Topics: 1. General information: municipality key, municipality (municipality, town, district, federation/joint municipality); classification of the municipality; federal state; administrative district to which the municipality belongs; official district key.

2. Local election data: year in which the election took place; number of eligible voters; name of candidate or list; type of candidate or list (e.g. Bundestag party); application of majority voting rights in the municipality; number of voters who participated in the elections; voter turnout; total valid votes; total and percentage number of votes for the candidate or list; seats won; total seats in the municipal council.

3. Population indicators: population figures for 2002 and 2011; population density (inhabitants per square kilometre in 2011); number of births and deaths in 2015; number of persons moved in and out above municipal boundaries in 2015; balance of persons moved in and out above municipal boundaries in 2015.

4. Labour market indicators: number of unemployed in 2016; number of employees subject to social insurance contributions in 2014 by place of work and residence.

5. Area indicators: total area in square kilometres in 2015; size of selected areas in ha in 2015: Building area (settlement and traffic area), living area, commercial area, recreation area, traffic area, agricultural area and forest area).

6. Budget indicators: taxes and parafiscal income 2014; real estate tax A (actual income of real estate tax A 2015 on agricultural land in thousands of euros); real estate tax B (actual income of real estate tax B 2015 on building or developed land in thousands of euros); total real estate tax (actual income 2015 of real estate tax A and B in thousands of euros); gross trade tax income (trade tax income 2015 without deduction of the trade tax levy in thousand euros); trade tax levy (share of trade tax 2015 in federal and state governments in thousand euros); net trade tax income (share of trade tax income 2015 for municipalities in thousand euros); income tax (municipal share of income tax 2015 in thousands of euros); value added tax (municipal share of value added tax 2015 in thousands of euros); gross income (gross income generated by the municipality in 2014; gross expenses (total expenses incurred in 2014 in the public budget); net expenses (expenses in 2014 less expenses for other public budgets); loans (loans and internal loans 2014); debts (debts of municipalities/associations of municipalities 2009 in thousands of euros by district/cities; allocations (general allocations around apportionments 2014 of federal, state, municipal); investment promotion (allocations and subsidies for investment promotion 2014).