Half a year after the Bundestag’s decision, the Unionsfraktion in Karlsruhe has also filed a constitutional complaint against the new Bundestag electoral law. “In December, we as CDU/CSU initiated the complaint against the electoral manipulation of the Ampel,” said CSU Landesgruppen Chief Alexander Dobrindt on Sunday, in response to a request from the Deutsche Presse-Agentur on the sidelines of the CSU retreat in Kloster Seeon. The Bavarian state government and the CSU as a party had already filed a lawsuit with the Federal Constitutional Court.
Bavarian State Government and CSU had already filed a lawsuit
Dobrindt emphasized that the Ampel electoral law serves exclusively for the maintenance of power for the SPD, Greens, and FDP, ignoring the will of the voters massively. “This electoral manipulation of the Ampel must not be applied and must be stopped,” he said.
In June, the Bundestag passed the new electoral law against the resistance of the Union and the Left Party. The reform aims to reduce the size of the Bundestag. With currently 736 members, the Bundestag is the largest freely elected parliament in the world. The new electoral law now caps the number of seats at 630. Elections will continue with first and second votes, but there are no longer overhang and balancing mandates.
Union urges new discussions on electoral reform from Ampel factions
In the future, the number of seats for a party will be determined solely by their second vote result. This may result in successful constituency candidates not obtaining their direct mandate. The basic mandate clause also disappears. Under it, parties previously entered the Bundestag with the strength of their second vote result if they were below the five percent hurdle but obtained at least three direct mandates. For the CSU, which is only electable in Bavaria, this regulation would mean that if they obtained a nationwide result of less than five percent, they would no longer be represented in the Bundestag. In the 2021 federal election, their second vote share was 5.2 percent.
Irrespective of the ongoing legal proceedings, the Union is demanding new discussions on electoral reform from the Ampel factions. After the heads of the FDP, SPD, and Greens factions did not respond to a corresponding demand from the Union faction, Dobrindt stated that the issue is now back with the Chancellor himself.
“Friedrich Merz and I wrote a letter to Olaf Scholz in December, in which we clearly expressed our willingness to work with the Ampel to reach a constitutionally compliant electoral law,” said Dobrindt. The letter contains “the urgent request” to Scholz to invite the three Ampel factions and the CDU/CSU for a discussion.
