The dispute on Reform : the Union would like to sausage the right to vote an extra

The Bundestag to be smaller and more feminine. But the Reform is difficult.Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa

The lap of the President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), which takes care of a Reform of the electoral law, only tedious. Also on Wednesday evening, the result in agreement was not possible – in order for the group representatives to speak for more than a year of inconclusive on how it could manage to hold on to the Bundestag as close as possible to its minimum size of 598 members.

the election in 2017 were due to Overhang and compensation mandates 709 seats. According to the latest surveys, a Parliament with more than 800 members is not excluded. The Schäuble-round meets behind closed doors.

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According to the daily mirror, are four factions more or less agreed on how we could come to a result order. SPD, Green, FDP and Left to my, by reducing the number of constituencies (and therefore the direct mandates) and a simpler allocation method, a reasonably predictable Bundestag would size close to the minimum size.

In conversation, a reduction on the 240 constituencies (currently 299) is equal to the minimum number of seats remain. As the Union group can not accept such an incision, is also considering whether to increase the minimum size to be moderate, at about 630 or 640 seats. So that would have to be reduced to achieve the same effect, the constituency number to 270.

Need to be compensated for all of the Overhangs?

According to daily mirror information the Union wants to achieve, however that not all of the Overhangs have to be compensated. These arise when a party on the first vote wins more direct mandates than her after the second vote result – so after the party proportional representation – a total of Sit are entitled to. Then will be compensated according to the previous election law, with additional mandates, until the second voice ratio is achieved. Therefore, the growth is due to 709 seats, because it had to be compensated for 36 Overhangs the CDU.

In the Union, toying with a model in which not all of the Overhangs are in balance. The group refers to the judgment of the Federal constitutional court of 2012, in which it was decided that up to 15 overhang mandates without compensation is permitted.

in fact, this would be, given the current dominance of the Union in the case of direct mandates to a kind of mandate premium for the CDU and the CSU. The question is whether the other factions accept that – in the result, namely, the party's proportional representation would be reflected in the distribution of seats exactly. But so far, the claim of all the groups, with the exception of the CDU/CSU.

Schäuble has repeatedly noted that the party's proportional representation, a reform was not the objective. At the start of the talks under his leadership, by the end of 2017, he told the daily mirror: "The principle that the Bundestag is composed according to the respective vote shares of the parties, has a high acceptance in the population." And he had added: "This also applies to the existence of constituencies."

parity law for the time being, off the table

for the time being, off the table is, apparently, the project, in the framework of the electoral law reform, a law on Parity be sought with the objective that at least half of the members is female. For this, the Deputy Chairman of Bundestag Thomas Oppermann (SPD) had made a proposal to the Parliament of Brandenburg had adopted such a gender equality act.

However, it is not clear whether such laws are constitutional are compliant. Several prominent electoral and party activists doubt, including the düsseldorf Professor of Law Sophie Berger. Also, the Bavarian constitutional court ruled last year that a parity of desire standing with the state Constitution in accordance. In the Bundestag there are concerns, not least in the case of the FDP, which sees a violation of the precept of freedom of choice.

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Reform of the electoral law Opens the debate!

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to bring the despite has on Thursday in the Bundestag, the cross-party group of women together with the goal of more female MPs in the Bundestag. While the SPD, Greens and Left to continue on the project of a statutory scheme is retained, it is the women in the Union and the FDP more about other ways to unload the East.