Election on February 23rd
This is how the five percent hurdle works in the Bundestag election
In the federal election, parties have to reach at least five percent to move into parliament. But there are exceptions to the rule – that says exactly.
At the five percent hurdle in the Bundestag election on February 23, three parties could fail that should be known to most people: the FDP, the left and the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance (BSW). At least that’s what the surveys said a few weeks before the election. Of the so -called “other parties”, none will not come over the magical mark of five percent.
The Bundestag itself is “a blocking clause for elections” to our People’s Representation, and it is regulated in the Federal Election Act.
Accordingly, “a party has to achieve five percent of the second votes throughout Germany in order to be involved in the distribution of mandate in the Bundestag”.
In our every day you will find current news about the early new elections.
What happens to parties that only reach four percent?
For example, if it says on the election evening that this or that party has only received four percent, she will not send an ordered to the Bundestag. Or?
That is not quite true. According to the motto “No rule without exception”, there are also special features: Parties of national minorities are not affected by the rule – however, there is currently only one party that applies: the Südschleswig voters’ association (SSW), the representation of the Danish minority in Germany. It can only be chosen in Schleswig-Holstein.
As a party of a national minority, the SSW only has to win so many votes that it is due to the calculation procedure, the rule is. We do not want to explain exactly how this is calculated here, but the size is an average five -digit number of second votes that is required.
If you are not yet sure who to choose, the election machine for the 2025 Bundestag election can serve as a decision -making aid.
In the 2021 federal election, the SSW had actually done this: Since then, the SSW politician Stefan Seidler has been a member of the parliament in Berlin as a parliamentary and German-Danish coordinator. This time he needs a good 40,000 votes to move into parliament again. If the SSW collects 110,000 votes, the party would even have two MPs in the German Bundestag. The chances for this are not that bad, can be read high in the north in the press.
What exceptions are there at the five percent hurdle?
There is another way to move into the Bundestag below the five percent hurdle: a party has to fight for three direct mandates. In this case, it is then represented in the new Bundestag according to the strength of her second vote result. There is also an example for this: In 2021, the left won only 4.9 percent of the second votes. Thanks to three direct mandates in Berlin and Leipzig, she came to the Bundestag with 39 MPs.
What does the “basic mandate clause” mean?
The traffic light coalition actually wanted to delete this rule in the course of the voting right reform. Because the new regulation will shrink the Bundestag. It gives the second votes more weight. But this rule remained – the change was overturned by the Federal Constitutional Court.
This specialty is called “basic mandate clause”. In the Bundestag election on February 23, she could also enable a party to move into the Bundestag-although she did not skip the five percent hurdle.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
