The South Schleswig Voter Federation (German: Südschleswigscher Wählerverband, Danish: Sydslesvigsk Vælgerforening, Frisian: Söödschlaswiksche Wäälerferbånd) is a minor political party in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is a party for Danish and Friesian minorities.

The SSW is not a conventional party of the left or right, and there exist elements from across the political spectrum in the party, but it models itself on the Scandinavian countries, which often means favoring a strong welfare state. It has not contested federal elections since 1965.

As a party for the ethnic Danish minority, the SSW is not subject to the usual German requirement of getting a 5% vote share in order to receive proportional seats in the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament (Landtag). In the most recent 2005 election, the SSW received 3.6% of the vote and two seats. This was enough for the SSW to hold the balance of power between the national parties of the left and right, and the SSW elected to back a SPD-Green coalition of the left, without entering the coalition. This resulted in criticism from the CDU, which asserted that the SSW's special status existed in order to lobby for minority interests, and that it should be revoked if the SSW behaved like a regular party. Further, the SSW had taken a strong position on the organization of schools in the state, and the CDU complained that since there were separate Danish language schools, it was unreasonable for the SSW to be involved in organizing the regular schools.

External link

• SSW in English