ABSTRACT
In democratic systems citizens formally influence the policymaking process when casting their votes for competing parties at election time. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) knew that it had only a slim chance of winning more than 50 percent of the vote in a national election. Local branches, worried about SPD losses, blamed the decline in part on national headquarters. They felt that the Bonn SPD paid too much attention to national elections and not enough to mobilization for local elections. The chapter focuses on the characteristics common to the SPD’s campaigns in all the election years before assessing each election separately to capture its distinguishing features. The mass media give less prominence to local than to national or state elections, but for the average citizen they are important. In cities, the parties are more active in electing the lord mayor, mayors, and city councillors. In urban areas, where most organized workers live, it hoped to achieve municipal socialism.
