Constitutional Court Overturns Parts of New Electoral Law
Originally scheduled for Tuesday, a leaked decision reveals that the German Constitutional Court has ruled to overturn parts of the new electoral law passed by the traffic light coalition.
The traffic light coalition and the opposition had been awaiting the court’s decision on the new federal election law for months. The leaked verdict, published on the court’s website, found that certain provisions of the coalition’s electoral law are unconstitutional due to the exclusion of the “basic mandate clause.”
This clause allowed parties to enter the Bundestag even if they failed to reach the nationwide five percent threshold but secured at least three direct mandates. The traffic light coalition had intended to abolish this exception.
The Left Party welcomed the ruling, calling the exclusion of the basic mandate clause “undemocratic.” The party celebrated this “partial success” for themselves and other smaller parties.
The written ruling states that the five percent hurdle without the basic mandate clause violates the German Basic Law. Therefore, the basic mandate clause will remain in effect for the next election.
Originally scheduled for a 10:00 AM announcement in Karlsruhe on Tuesday, the decision was unexpectedly posted online for a brief period on Monday evening before being removed. The reason for this unusual procedure remains unclear.