The Germans generally welcome the electoral law reform that the traffic light coalition wants to pass on Friday. A majority of almost two-thirds (64 percent) of those eligible to vote expect better political work if the number of MPs were reduced from the current 736 to 630. On the other hand, around a third (32 percent) believe that the quality of the political work of the members of parliament does not depend on the size of the Bundestag. This was the result of a Forsa survey commissioned by stern.
However, the opinion is not uniform. Because the traffic light wants to change the electoral law for the reform, which 46 percent reject and 43 percent support. Overhang and compensation mandates are to be eliminated in the future. In addition, the basic mandate clause is to be deleted. It provides for a party to enter the Bundestag even if it has missed the five percent hurdle but has won at least three direct mandates at the same time.
The Left Party (it only got 4.9 percent of the second votes in the last federal election) would not be represented in the current Bundestag. The number of CSU MPs would also be much lower because the Bavarian party regularly gets more direct mandates than it is entitled to after second votes. The CSU would be hit hard by the elimination of the overhang mandates.
A different picture emerges when it comes to the question of directly elected MPs. Here, 58 percent of respondents are of the opinion that not everyone should move into the Bundestag. This is provided for in the reform. Voters are also divided on the question of whether the reform should be passed with a simple or a two-thirds majority. A simple majority is sufficient for 47 percent, while 46 believe a two-thirds majority is necessary.
The data was collected by the market and opinion research institute forsa for the RTL Group Germany on March 14 and 15, 2023. Database: 1004 respondents. Statistical error tolerance: /- 3 percentage points
