Status: 04/18/2023 05:35 a.m
There has already been a new reform since March – the Federal Constitutional Court is now examining the electoral law launched by the grand coalition in 2020. It could also decide about fundamental things.
When the grand coalition of Union and SPD changed the electoral law in 2020, Philipp Amthor from the CDU was very satisfied: “What takes a long time will finally be good. And the month-long, year-long discussion about downsizing the Bundestag will be achieved today.”
The entire opposition saw things differently. There was strong protest from the smaller parties. “You failed miserably with this electoral law reform,” said Britta Haßelmann, member of the Greens, for example. “And the crazy thing is: outside you can tell. Don’t tell people about horses, ladies and gentlemen.”
Because the Bundestag had grown to over 700 MPs after the 2017 election, making it bigger than ever before, the grand coalition decided to make changes. After that, the FDP, the Greens and the Left decided to have the whole thing examined by the Federal Constitutional Court. The new regulations are too unclear and would favor certain parties, they argued.
Fewer compensation mandates
In 2020, for example, it was decided that compensation mandates would no longer be awarded in full. Until then, the relationship in parliament had always been balanced for everyone: if a certain party had won more direct mandates than it was entitled to based on the second votes, it received so-called overhang mandates, i.e. additional seats. To ensure that the relationship between the parties in Parliament remained the same, the others then received additional mandates, the so-called compensation mandates.
That should be reduced according to the plans of the grand coalition. Since then, it has simply been accepted that one party may be in a better position due to the overhang mandates. The other parties only get compensation if there are four additional MPs. Among others, the CSU benefits from this. It typically wins a particularly large number of direct mandates. That’s why she gets overhang mandates – and is therefore stronger in relation to the others because everything is no longer balanced.
Changes from 2023 are not yet an issue
The fact that electoral law is so complicated also has to do with previous judgments by the Federal Constitutional Court. The Karlsruhe court had often requested changes in the sense of a system that was as fair as possible.
However, the judges are now only examining the 2020 reform. The latest changes, i.e. those from March 2023, are not yet an issue. Because of the latest reform from this year, the one from 2020 no longer needs to be discussed, the MPs who had complained found: The matter could rest. But the court decided against it.
The rapporteur in Karlsruhe is Judge Peter Müller, the former Prime Minister of Saarland, whose term of office ends in September. It is conceivable that he and his Senate colleagues will want to write a few basic things into the 2020 electoral law ruling. Things that would then also be of importance in further reforms of the electoral law. That is why the oral hearing today in the Federal Constitutional Court remains exciting.