Image: ODD ANDERSEN (AFP)
The draft of the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP achieved the required simple majority on Friday in Berlin. The Union and the Left Party see themselves disadvantaged by the reform and have each announced a complaint before the Federal Constitutional Court.
The controversial reform of the traffic light coalition for the right to vote was approved with 400 votes. 261 MPs voted against, 23 abstained. With the reform, the Bundestag, which has now grown to 736 MPs, is to be permanently reduced to 630 seats from the next election.
CSU even more angry
After the opposition Union (CDU/CSU) had rejected the first proposal from the SPD, Greens and FDP, the traffic light groups came up with the new variant, which caused even more anger, especially among the CSU. The aim is to reduce the size of Parliament by completely dispensing with overhang and compensatory mandates. So far, these have caused inflation in the Bundestag, which has not had a fixed number of seats to date.
Overhang mandates arise when a party wins more seats in the Bundestag via direct mandates than it is entitled to based on the result of the second vote (result of the party list). You can keep those seats. The other parties receive compensatory mandates in return. According to the new rules, it may happen in the future that an applicant wins his constituency directly, but still does not get into the Bundestag. This particularly enrages the CSU, which is a political party only in Bavaria and sits in a parliamentary group with the CDU.
Five percent clause
In addition, according to the traffic light draft, a strict five percent clause should apply. The so-called basic mandate clause does not apply. So far, it has ensured that parties with the strength of their second vote result also entered the Bundestag if they were less than five percent but won at least three direct mandates. The Left Party benefited from this in the 2021 election, but so did the CSU.
In the concluding debate on the planned downsizing of the Bundestag on Friday, opposition politicians accused the traffic light factions of having tailor-made voting rights to stay in power. CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt said the plan was aimed at pushing the left out of parliament and calling “the CSU’s right to exist” into question. “They are making a reform for themselves here” in order to cement the “traffic light’s claim to power,” he accused the SPD. The left-wing faction’s parliamentary director, Jan Korte, accused the traffic light of “arrogance”. Several Union MEPs applauded during his speech.
SPD, Greens and FDP argue that the downsizing affects all parties equally. The reform is fair and constitutional. Votes on this in the parliamentary groups were unanimous in the case of the Greens and FDP and with very large approval in the case of the SPD.
Source: Nachrichten
