Publications
The voting system
Article The constitution
Germany’s electoral law provides for a system of personalized proportional representation. Each voter has two votes: the first for an individual constituency candidate, and the second for a party-list in a particular state (Land).
Also in its recently amended form Germany’s electoral law still provides for a system of personalized proportional representation, which combines the principles of majority voting with proportional representation: Each voter may cast one vote for a candidate in one of 299 constituencies and one vote for one party’s list of candidates in a particular state (Land). The number of seats won directly by constituency MPs is deducted from the total number of seats allocated to a party according to the number of second votes received for that party’s list of candidates, thereby preserving the principles of proportional representation.
To avoid overhang seats and the effect of negative voting weight, starting with the elections in September 2013 the proportion of party list votes will be calculated in two steps:
In a first step, 598 seats will be allocated to the parties’ state lists from defined contingents of the states (according to the population share). This is to verify whether any constituency seats cannot be deducted from the respective parties’ lists and therefore do not concur with the principles of proportional representation (so-called overhang seats). In the second step, the number of Bundestag seats is increased accordingly until each party is allocated as many seats in proportion to the number of second votes received as in the first allocation plus the overhang seats calculated during the first step. This ensures that all constituency seats can be deducted from the number of seats won by the respective party-lists and no overhang seats result.
The increased number of seats is then allocated to the partiesand to their state lists according to the proportion of second votes won by the different state lists. Each state list receives at least the number of constituency seats won in the state’s constituencies, so that all constituency seats can be deducted from the seats won by the party.
Elections in the constituencies (Section 5 of the Federal Electoral Act)
One member of the Bundestag is elected in each of the 299 constituencies in the federal territory. The candidate who gets the most constituency votes is directly elected to the Bundestag (relative majority voting). The constituency seats won are counted towards the total number of seats won by a party with votes for its state list in order to guarantee that the number of MPs in the Bundestag corresponds to the principles of proportional representation.
It is primarily up to the parties to present candidates for the constituencies. All party members who have the right to vote in that constituency are eligible to elect the candidate in that constituency. Constituency candidates can be chosen no earlier than 32 months after the beginning of the legislative term. For the elections on 22 September 2013, this means that candidates could be chosen no earlier than 28 June 2012.
Constituency candidates may also be chosen not by a party but by an association of voters: At least 200 eligible voters from the constituency must personally sign an official form delivered by the constituency returning officer (Section 20 (3) of the Federal Electoral Act, Section 34 of the Federal Electoral Code). Each eligible voter may sign only one such nomination.
Constituencies are redrawn for each Bundestag election in the annex to the Federal Electoral Act based on recommendations by the Constituency Boundaries Commission. They are allocated to the states strictly in accordance with population share and their boundaries drawn so that they do not diverge more than 15% and by no means more than 25% from the average population in the constituencies. State boundaries and, if possible, municipal, district and urban district boundaries should be used and the principle of constituency continuity followed.
Elections of state party lists (Section 6 of the Federal Electoral Act)
The proportion of second votes won by the party lists determines their representation in the Bundestag and the number of members elected from the states to the Bundestag. Parties must receive at least 5% of the second votes to enter the Bundestag.
After the total number of Bundestag seats has been calculated in the first step, in the second step the seats are allocated according to the proportion of second votes received by the parties, who then allocate their seats using their state lists.
The number of constituency seats won in the state constituencies is subtracted from the number of seats allocated to the state lists. The remaining seats are assigned in the order they appear on the list. Candidates who have won a constituency seat and are also on the party list are skipped over when seats are allocated using the party’s list.
Only parties may submit state lists of candidates. If a party has not been represented by at least five members in the Bundestag or a state parliament without interruption since the last elections, the Federal Electoral Committee decides whether it is a party for the election (Section 18 of the Federal Electoral Act). Complaints about decisions by the Federal Electoral Committee may be submitted to the Federal Constitutional Court within four days. The applicant is to be treated as a party and may therefore submit party lists until the court has made a decision and no more than 59 days before the election.
