The CSU and the Bavarian state government are taking the electoral law reform introduced by the traffic light coalition to the Federal Constitutional Court. The lawsuits announced by Prime Minister and CSU boss Markus Söder have been filed, the party and the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior announced. The law approved by the Bundestag and Bundesrat is “undemocratic, anti-federalism, manipulative and unconstitutional,” said CSU General Secretary Martin Huber.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann explained that the new rules particularly disadvantaged the CSU and Bavaria, but also regions in Baden-Württemberg and eastern Germany. The Bundestag had decided with the votes of the SPD, Greens and FDP that the parliament should have 630 MPs in the future.
The project, which changes the system of electoral law, was approved by the Federal Council and signed by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. According to this, not all first vote winners of the 299 constituencies should move into the Bundestag. Only the result of the second vote of the parties is decisive. In addition, the basic mandate rule, according to which a party is represented in the Bundestag if it wins at least three direct mandates, was abolished. In the future, a party must achieve at least five percent nationwide.