Team Zastrow - the party of former Saxon FDP leader Holger Zastrow - is running several direct candidates in the state elections on September 1 following its surprising success in the Dresden city council elections a week ago. Zastrow said that "other structures and financial resources" were needed to participate with his own list, in response to the corresponding decision by a state party conference on Sunday. "We are not campaigners, but want it to have a solid foundation." Zastrow is confident of winning one of the direct mandates.
After the local elections, he said that the Dresden project should become "a genuine party". "We are rolling out the project, but step by step; it has to grow, we don't want to rush things," he explained. In the city council elections, Team Zastrow achieved 8.1 percent from a standing start.
Zastrow is considered a veteran of the Saxon Liberals. He took over the chairmanship of the FDP in 1999 and then led the party for 20 years. From 2004 to 2014, he was also its parliamentary group leader in the state parliament, and between 2011 and 2013 he was deputy federal leader of the Free Democrats. He then turned his back on his party at the beginning of 2024 - and founded his own party in recent weeks.
