On Monday, the CSU executive again spoke out in favor of taking legal action against the federal electoral reform. As party leader and Prime Minister Markus Söder announced after a meeting of the committee, his cabinet also wants to decide on a complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court this Tuesday. Söder described the reform as an attempt by the governing parties SPD, Greens and FDP to weaken “the role of Bavaria and the CSU”.
Anyone who “manipulates the right to vote, one almost has to say it, is subject to serious accusations,” he said. CSU General Secretary Martin Huber was unable to say on Monday when the lawsuit would actually reach the Federal Constitutional Court. According to Huber, the deadline ends on September 17th. His party wants to file the lawsuit “well beforehand”.
In order to reduce the size of parliament, the Bundestag decided in March, among other things, to delete the basic mandate clause. The Federal Council recently approved the reform. In the event of failure at the five percent hurdle, the basic mandate clause of the CSU guaranteed entry into the Bundestag if it wins at least three direct mandates. After the reform, all direct mandates will be lost if a party gets less than five percent of the second votes. In the 2021 election, the CSU result was 5.2 percent.
With a view to the Bundestag, CSU leader Söder also called on Monday for a committee of inquiry into the affair surrounding Patrick Graichen, State Secretary in Robert Habeck’s (Greens) Federal Ministry of Economics. The “green moorland” must be examined, said Söder. The affair is about personal ties. Among other things, Graichen was involved in the selection of the new managing director of the federal German Energy Agency (Dena), Michael Schäfer, although he is his best man.