CSU boss Markus Söder believes that a constitutional complaint against the new electoral law planned by the traffic light is inevitable. Bavaria will “definitely” go before the constitutional court in Karlsruhe, said the Bavarian Prime Minister in Berlin. He assumes that such a lawsuit has a good chance of success.
The traffic light coalition wants to pass its planned new electoral law this Friday with its majority against the protests of the Union and the Left Party.
As a result of the reform, the Bundestag, which has grown to 736 members, will again be reduced to 630 seats in the next election. The key point is that there will no longer be any overhang or compensation mandates in the future. The so-called basic mandate clause will also be deleted. It has the effect that a party also enters the Bundestag based on its second vote result if it has missed the five percent hurdle but has won at least three direct mandates.
“Not in panic, but outraged”
In this way, the left would not be represented in the Bundestag today because it only got 4.9 percent of the second votes in the 2021 federal election. Nationwide, the CSU achieved its historically worst result of 5.2 percent. If it had slipped below the five percent hurdle, it would not have gotten any of the 45 direct mandates it had won under the new model.
Söder said the CSU was “not in a panic, but outraged”. It is unique that a political majority is carving out a new majority. This is a targeted intervention in the electoral process motivated by party politics and a serious error in state policy. He has the impression that the traffic light wants to secure a permanent majority and silence critical voices. “Of course that’s unconstitutional,” said Söder. “There is no democratic blessing on this right to vote.” This approach will bring his party more support. Söder predicted that the electoral law would be changed after each electoral term with new majorities.
