2024-08-07 15:21:56
The traffic light coalition wants to reduce the size of the Bundestag with an electoral reform. However, part of the reform is unconstitutional. Nevertheless, everyone now sees themselves as winners.
Following the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling on electoral reform, the Green Party’s parliamentary manager, Till Steffen, has spoken out against a rapid further adjustment of the law. “The issue of the basic mandate clause should be looked at carefully,” Steffen told t-online. “I advise against making hasty decisions before the next federal election.”
Former Hamburg Justice Senator Steffen praised the ruling and his traffic light coalition. “We have clarity in time for the next federal election. This decision creates stability for the electoral law,” said Steffen. “The reduction in the size of the Bundestag is a great success. We have achieved this despite bitter resistance, particularly from the CSU.”
Video | Judgment published too early – Constitutional Court comments
Court objects to abolition of basic mandate clause
The Constitutional Court had declared the reform of the traffic light coalition to be largely constitutional. It provides for limiting the number of members of the Bundestag to 630. In return, overhang and compensatory mandates will be abolished.
However, the court overturned the traffic light coalition’s plan to abolish the basic mandate clause at the same time. This clause allows parties that win at least three direct mandates to enter the Bundestag even if they have received less than five percent of the second votes.
The basic mandate clause will now remain in place until further notice. The court gives politicians the freedom to retain it, reform it or compensate for the hardships of the five percent hurdle in other ways.
The deputy leader of the FDP parliamentary group, Konstantin Kuhle, also praised the court in Karlsruhe and the reform. “The Federal Constitutional Court has made a wise ruling and confirmed the core of the electoral reform,” Kuhle told t-online. “If politicians want to reform the country, they cannot exclude themselves. For this reason, the German Bundestag cannot continue to grow unchecked.”
Kuhle went on to say that it had long been controversial whether the basic mandate clause was “at all compatible with the Basic Law”. “With its decision, the court has finally provided the necessary clarity – under the current conditions.”
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt sees the ruling as a “defeat for the traffic light coalition” before the Constitutional Court. “The deliberate manipulation of the electoral law by the traffic light coalition was stopped by the Federal Constitutional Court,” Dobrindt told t-online. “The attempt by the traffic light coalition to maintain its own power by manipulating the electoral law to force other parties out of the German Bundestag has failed.”
Dobrindt continued: “It has become obvious that the traffic light coalition has made an unconstitutional attempt to deliberately exclude major social and regional political currents from the political decision-making process. This deliberate attempt at manipulation was extremely disrespectful to the voters and to democracy itself.”
The Left sees its view that the electoral law is unconstitutional confirmed. “It violates the equality of votes in the election, it violates the equal opportunities of the parties and much more,” said Left politician Gregor Gysi. This refers above all to the deletion of the so-called basic mandate clause decided by the traffic light coalition.
Gysi expects a new electoral law for the 2025 federal election to be passed in September. The Bundestag must now hurry up, Gysi said in Karlsruhe. Direct candidates for the election have been allowed to be nominated since the end of June. “We actually need to know very quickly which electoral law applies.”