It started as a joke...

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Martin Sonneborn - a real politician? © imago images / Jochen Eckel

Riding high on successes in North Rhine-Westphalia's municipal elections last month, the party now finds itself at a crossroads. Realists say the future lies in moving into the mainstream. But purists insist the party shouldn’t forget how it started - as a joke.

While this might sound like an apt description for the Greens, we’re actually talking about the Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative. In short - Die Partei.

Martin Sonneborn hit the right tone when he founded Die Partei 16 years ago. Promising to invade Liechtenstein and give every voter a unicorn, he convinced thousands of people to join up in a matter of months.

A former editor of the satirical magazine Titanic, Sonneborn makes no bones about his leftist views. But in more innocent times, Die Partei became a release valve for voters across the spectrum who wanted to blow a raspberry at Berlin.

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