After the
use of the absolute-majority Two Round System (TRS) in the German Empire, and
the use of a pure proportional representation system in the Weimar Republic,
see, a new electoral system was established by the Parliamentary Council in
1949. The system was created by the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of
Germany - the West German Constitution. It was thus a result of inter-party
bargaining between democratic forces in West Germany. Like the Basic Law,
it was originally considered to be provisional, but has remained essentially
unchanged since 1949.
The German
electoral system is classified as a personalised proportional system
("Personalisierte Verhältniswahl") or, as it is known in New Zealand
as a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system. Its essence is the way in which it
combines a personal vote in single-member districts with the principle of
proportional representation.
Currently,
the German parliament (Bundestag) has 622 seats, not including possible surplus
seats (see below). Each voter has two votes. The first vote (Erststimme) is a
personal vote, given to a particular (party) candidate in one of the 299 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 single-member districts as well as simultaneously for the party
list. The candidates who achieve a plurality in the single-member districts are
elected (Direktmandate). However, the second vote determines how many
representatives will be sent from each party to the Bundestag.
On the
national level, all the second votes (Zweitstimmen) for the parties are
totalled. 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).
The number
of seats won directly by a party in the single-member districts of a particular
federal state are then subtracted from the total number of seats allocated to
that party's list. The remaining seats are assigned to the closed party list.
Should a party win more Direktmandate seats in a particular federal state than
the number of seats allocated to it by the second votes, these surplus seats
(Überhangmandate) are kept by that party. In such a case, the total number of
seats in the Bundestag temporarily increases.
The German
system is not, as sometimes supposed, a mixed system, but a PR system. It
differs from pure proportional representation only in that the five percent
threshold at national level excludes very small parties from parliamentary
representation, and thanks to proportional representation a relatively wide
range of social and political forces are represented in Parliament.
Furthermore, the electoral system is, to some extent, open to social and
political changes. In spite of the threshold, new political parties supported
by a substantial part of the electorate have access to Parliament. Besides the
Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), Social Democratic
Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP), which have been in the Bundestag
since 1949, a new Green Party (GRÜNE) gained seats in 1983 and 1987. After
falling below the threshold in 1990, the Greens, in a coalition with Alliance '90, were able to
return to Parliament in 1994. After German unification, even small East German
parties gained parliamentary seats. In the all-German elections of 1990, the
East German Alliance '90/Greens and the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)
cleared the five percent threshold which was applied, separately in the
territory of former East Germany
and former West Germany,
for that one election. Four years later, the PDS took advantage of the
"alternative clause" by winning four of the required three
Direktmandate seats.
The
personal vote for a candidate in single-member constituencies aims to ensure a
close relationship between voters and their representatives. In practice,
however, the advantage of these districts should not be overestimated. In Germany,
elections in the single-member districts are mainly based on party preferences
and not on the personality of the candidates. The initial hopes that MMP would
guarantee a close voter-representative relationship have consequently only
partly materialized, despite efforts by representatives to establish strong
links with their constituencies. Nevertheless, 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.
Furthermore,
the two-vote system enables voters to split their votes strategically between
existing or possible coalition partners. In fact, vote splitting is common
among the supporters of smaller parties. 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. Similarly, supporters of bigger parties may "lend"
their second vote to a minor party within the coalition, in order to ensure
that it will pass the legal threshold. Thus, vote splitting is strategically
used by voters to support the coalition partner of "their" party or,
at least, to indicate their coalition preferences.
By
producing highly proportional outcomes, the electoral system makes manufactured
majorities, where one party wins an absolute majority of the parliamentary
seats on a minority of the popular votes, very unlikely. In fact, over the last
five decades in Germany,
manufactured majorities have never occurred. Majority governments have usually
been coalition governments, and any change of government has resulted from
changes in the configuration of the coalition. German coalition governments are
usually stable and regarded as legitimate by the electorate, and, because of a
coalition's built-in incentives to co-operate, many Germans prefer a coalition
government to a single-party government. The main checking function is fulfilled
by an opposition, which is fairly represented. It is important to note that the
relationship between government and opposition in German politics is more
consensual and co-operative than conflictual or hostile. This, however, is a
result of history and political culture rather than of the electoral system per
se.
To date,
the MMP system has not shown any great drawbacks in Germany. It has lasted long enough
to have a high level of institutionalized legitimacy; the basic principles of
single-member districts and list PR representation have been left unaltered
since 1949. However, some minor changes of the electoral system have taken
place. Chief among these was the switch to two separate votes in 1953, before
then the voter had only a single vote to apply to both district and national PR
allocation.
Nevertheless,
several attempts to reform the electoral system substantially have been made
since 1949, and most intensely in the 1960s, when opponents of the PR system
demanded the introduction of a FPTP system. This was partly due to political
manoeuverings to enhance the position of the stronger parties, and partly based
on a theoretical school of thought which favoured the British model; but all
attempts were unsuccessful. More recently, the electoral system has been
criticized for producing too many surplus seats without compensating the
disadvantaged parties in Parliament.
Basic Law