Objective: Voting behaviour of chronic mentally ill patients should demonstrate that this group may act as a political interest group.
Methods: Residents of therapeutic facilities for mentally ill patients were questioned on their voting behaviour after the Federal Election to the Bundestag in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
Results: There was a stable preference for the parties from the "left wing", more than (2/3) of the study population voted for the Social Democrats or the Green party. It was important for 17.2 % of the clients that a party puts emphasis on the interests of the mentally ill.
Conclusions: Chronic mentally ill patients show a different voting behaviour than the general population. Their voting decision is partially related to their specific interests, which could give them a lobby-like status. This should be taken into consideration in the future development and planning of mental health care systems.