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Bavarian Party (Bavaria, Germany)

Bayernpartei, BP

Introduction
Flags and Symbols Used

See also:

Political Parties (Germany)
Bavaria (Bayern, Germany)
Germany

Introduction

The BP (Bayernpartei, Bavarian Party) is now a small and insignificant party, but in the fifties it was the third largest party in Bavaria.

The BP was founded in 1946. Since then it advocated (more or less firmly) an independent state of Bavaria on its own, as it viewed the North German / Prussian militarism as one of the main sources for two disastrous world wars, and thus wanted a secession or at least a special statute for Bavaria. The party is conservative and therefore it was a major competitor of the other conservative party in Bavaria, the CSU. In the 1950 Landtag (state parliament) elections the BP gained 18% of the votes. It also had 17 seats in the first Bundestag or federal parliament (1949-1953).

Although support for the BP started to dwindle during the fifties, it helped to install a Bavarian government without the CSU during 1954-1957. This government —a coalition of SPD, BP, FDP and GB/BHE— was the only government in Bavaria since 1945 without the CSU. Shortly afterwards, however, the BP was smashed by a scandal carefully exploited by the CSU.

Since the sixties the BP has not played a significant role in Bavaria, having lost its last seats in the Bavarian Landtag in 1966. In recent years the BP could recover somew