Case Study: Germany Flashcards
What type of Electoral System does Germany use?
Germany uses the Mixed Member Proportional system, a personalised system.
How do the Bundestag elections work?
Each voter has two votes in the Bundestag elections (German Parliament).
The first vote (Erststimme) is a personal vote given to a particular (party) candidate in one of the 328 single member constituencies.
The second vote (Zweitstimme) is a party vote, given to a party list at the federal state level (Landesliste).
Candidates are allowed to compete in the single-member districts as well as similtaneously for the Party List. 2/3 of candidates do this but if they get elected to a constituency they have to be removed from the party list
The candidate who achieves a plurality in the single member district are elected however the second vote determines how many representatives will be sent from each party to the Bundestag.
How many seats does the Bundestag have?
The Bundestag (German Parliament) currently has 598 seats, not including any surplus seats.
How do you get considered for the national allocation of List PR?
Only parties obtaining more than five percent of the votes at the national level or, alternatively, having three members elected directly in the single-member constituencies, are considered in the national allocation of list PR seats.
The number of representatives from each party that has passed the legal threshold is calculated according to the Hare formula. Seats are then allocated within the 16 federal states (Länder).
What is Lander?
Federal states
How many Landers are there?
16
What is the aim of the personal vote in Germany?
The personal vote for a candidate in single-member constituencies aims to ensure a close relationship between voters and their representatives.
In practise, however, in Germany, elections in the single-member districts are mainly based on party preferences and not on the personality of the candidates.
This constituency element within a PR system does at least help to bridge the gap between voters and representatives which is normally widened by ordinary closed-list PR systems.
Discuss the two vote system.
The two vote system allows voters to split their vote strategically between existing or possible coalition partners.
Since candidates of smaller parties have little chance of winning a single-member district, their supporters frequently give their first vote to a constituency candidate from the larger coalition party.
