Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania

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The Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (German: Demokratisches Forum der Deutschen in Rumänien, DFDR; Romanian: Forumul Democrat al Germanilor din România) is a political party representing the German minority in Romania. It was founded at the end of 1989.

1 Overview
2 Localities with DFDR mayors
3 DFDR politicians
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Overview

In the minority-friendly Romanian voting law, the DFDR has been granted a seat in the Chamber of Deputies since the fall of the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime. All other government-recognized ethnic minorities in Romania also benefit from the same scheme.

Under the term "Romanian Germans" (Rumäniendeutschen) are included a wide variety of different regional German-speaking groups, including: Transylvanian Saxons, Banat Swabians, Sathmar Swabians, Bukovina Germans, Transylvanian Landler, Zipser Germans, and Regat Germans (the term Regat refers to what was Romanian territory until the First World War).

Since the year 2000, the DFDR has won offices on both the local and regional levels. In Sibiu (Hermannstadt), the DFDR's Klaus Johannis has held the office of mayor since 2000, and in 2004 the party gained 60.43% of the vote in elections for the Municipal Council. The DFDR holds 16 out of the 23 seats in the Sibiu Municipal Council, which gives it an absolute majority. In the Sibiu County (around 450,000 residents), the DFDR has 11 of the 33 seats in the County Council, where it is the strongest faction.

The DFDR has also had mayors in office since 2004 in the cities of Mediaş (Mediasch) and Cisnădie (Heltau), as well as in a few villages in the Satu Mare (Sathmar) county.