The electoral reform of the traffic light coalition is controversial, and the verdict is due to be announced at the Federal Constitutional Court on Tuesday. Has the verdict already been leaked before it is officially announced?
Before the verdict on the electoral reform of the traffic light coalition is announced, a document is circulating that could be the text of the Federal Constitutional Court’s decision. The document was temporarily available on the website of the highest German court, and several media outlets reported on it. When asked late on Monday evening, a spokesman for the Federal Constitutional Court did not want to comment on the statement that this was the verdict, and referred to the verdict being announced on Tuesday. This is scheduled for 10 a.m.
If the document is authentic and actually contains the judgment, the Federal Constitutional Court classifies parts of the electoral reform as unconstitutional. This concerns the repeal of the so-called basic mandate clause in the new electoral law – according to this, parties entered the Bundestag based on the strength of their second vote result even if they were below the five percent hurdle but won at least three direct mandates. The Left benefited from this in the 2021 election.
Electoral reform to reduce Bundestag size
The new regulation introduced by the coalition of the SPD, FDP and the Greens has been in force since June 2023 and is to be applied for the first time in the federal election next year. The reform is intended to significantly reduce the size of the Bundestag – by more than 100 to a maximum of 630 parliamentarians.
To achieve this, the reform no longer provides for overhang and compensatory mandates – this is also considered constitutional in the document that has been made public. Up to now, overhang mandates were awarded when a party won more direct mandates via the first votes than it was entitled to based on the second vote. The party was then allowed to keep these mandates, and the other parties received compensatory mandates in return.
CSU and Left would be most affected by electoral reform
The planned abolition of the basic mandate clause would mean a lot is at stake, especially for the CSU and the Left. In the 2021 election, the CSU received 5.2 percent of the second votes nationwide. If it were to slip below the five percent mark nationwide in the next election, it would be thrown out of the Bundestag under the traffic light electoral system – even if it were to win the vast majority of constituencies in Bavaria directly again.
Source: Stern
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