The Free Voters of Bavaria (German: Freie Wähler Bayern) is a conservative political party in Bavaria, considered centrist or centre-right. It has served as part of the governing coalition there since the 2018 state election under the leading Christian Social Union. The term "Free Voters" is also applied to the various independent voter groups common in Bavarian municipal and district elections. The name Free Voters of Bavaria applies to both the Bavarian State Association of Free and Independent Voters (seat: Munich), an umbrella organization of Free Voter groups, as well as the Bavarian state chapter of the nationwide party Free Voters (). The two groups exist simultaneously under the same name due to Bavarian election law not allowing umbrella organizations to run for office, thus the state party Free Voters of Bavaria was founded in 1997 in order to participate in the Bavarian state elections.
Due to the party's origins as an organization of independent politicians seeking alternatives to the established parties, the Free Voters are loosely organized and have no standardized ideology among its members. They stand as a centrist to centre-right party and often focus on local issues and local politics, as a consequence of their advocacy for more direct-democratic measures. The Free Voters of Bavaria are led by Hubert Aiwanger, who has been the party leader since 2018, and who currently serves as a Deputy Minister-President of Bavaria.
Relationship of umbrella organization and party
The executive committee of the umbrella organization (state association, German: Landesverband) and the party (state chapter, German: Landesvereinigung) is identical. However, this must not hide the fact that these are two completely structurally independent organizations. The state association on one hand has voter groups as members and, for data protection (privacy law) reasons, may not even know the names of the members of the local voter groups. On the other hand, the members of the party are natural persons. Membership in a local voter group is not a requirement for membership in the party. In addition, only a small proportion of members from the voter groups become members of the party.
In order to avoid a competitive relationship between the voter groups and the party, the party does not stand for election at municipal and district level, although the possibility is provided for in its statute. In Bavaria, the lowest organizational level of the party is the district chapter as local chapters currently do not exist. The Bavarian state chapter (Landesvereinigung Bayern) does not use the blue-yellow logo of the federal party, but the green-orange logo of the state association. Even in public relations, the Free Voters of Bavaria usually do not distinguish between state association and state chapter.
Umbrella organization
Since the 1950s, independent voter groups were formed by citizens of Bavaria at the municipal and district levels. These groups took part in local elections as an alternative to the established parties with their own, independent candidates. Numerous such municipal and district groups founded the umbrella organization of the Bavarian State Association of Free and Independent Voters (self designated FREIE WÄHLER, also abbreviated FW) in 1978, in order to agree on common goals and strategies. Currently, around 870 municipal and district voter groups are organized in the umbrella organization. The state association is a member of the Federal Association of Free Voters Germany. It has no election program and therefore does not run in elections.
Organization of the umbrella organization
The FW Landesverband Bayern is divided into bezirk (regional) associations. Even if the statute and association distinguish district and local associations, these do not exist as a subdivision of the state association but are completely independent voter groups. Not all local voter groups organized in the association necessarily have to be members of a voter group at the district level. Legally, these are two independent memberships. In a community, more than one voter group can be a member of the state association.
Voter groups organized in the association do not have to carry Free Voters or the abbreviation FW in their club names. This can cause misunderstandings as other voter groups, who are not members of the state association, can also call themselves Free Voters.