The Bundestag passed the law in March with votes from the traffic light group SPD, the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and some AfD MPs.
(Photo: imago/Uwe Steinert)
Berlin A controversial electoral law overhaul aimed at reducing the size of the Bundestag could come into force. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier signed the law. The Federal President’s Office made the announcement in Berlin on Thursday. The law now only needs to be published in the Federal Law Gazette. However, it is already clear that it will be reviewed by the Federal Constitutional Court.
The Bavarian state government, led by the CSU, has decided to file a lawsuit in Karlsruhe. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group wants to check constitutionality through an abstract legal review exercise. Both the trade unions and the left felt that the reform was at a disadvantage and that it was not in line with the Basic Law.
The Bundestag passed the law in March with votes from the traffic light group SPD, the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and some AfD MPs. It was approved by the Federal Council in May. It then undergoes the usual legal review at the Federal President’s Office.
With 736 members, the Bundestag is the largest freely elected parliament in the world. New electoral laws now limit seats to 630. Elections will continue with first and second votes.
However, there is no longer any surplus or compensation mandate. A party’s strength in parliament is entirely determined by the number of second votes it receives. A pending mandate occurs when a party has won more seats in the Bundestag through direct mandates than it was entitled to under the results of the second ballot so far. She was allowed to keep this. In return, other parties received compensatory mandates. The system led to a bloated Bundestag.
what will happen in the future
The base authorization clause is now also omitted. According to her, parties can also enter the Bundestag on the basis of a second ballot if they fall below the 5 percent threshold but win at least three direct mandates.
The law now only needs to be published in the Federal Law Gazette. However, it is already clear that it will be reviewed by the Federal Constitutional Court.
(Photo: IMAGO/Nordphoto)
Every political party that wants to enter the Bundestag must secure at least five percent of the second vote nationwide. With one small exception: minority parties are still exempt from this restriction.
Going forward, each party will only get the mandates it is entitled to based on its second vote — even if it wins more direct mandates. Then, the winner of the constituency with the worst first ballot results goes away empty-handed. This was first criticized by the CDU and CSU. The fact that the basic empowerment clause no longer irritates CSU and the left.
If the CSUs don’t win 5.2% nationally in the 2021 federal election but, like the left, only 4.9%, none of their 45 direct candidates will make it to the Bundestag under the new electoral law. The left, which benefits from the basic terms of empowerment, will also be out. Both sides see this as a gross disregard for the will of voters.
The left called on Steinmeier not to write the law. In vain. Before signing, the Federal President always checks whether a law has been passed in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law. However, it is generally believed that he also has substantive powers of review. If he believes that the content of a certain law does not comply with the Basic Law, he can refuse to sign it.
This has happened eight times in the history of the Federal Republic. The last two cases occurred in 2006, when Federal President Horst Koehler first failed to sign the air traffic control privatization law and then the consumer protection law.
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