According to a report, the Greens are considering changing one point of the controversial electoral reform.
Several representatives from federal states with Greens in the government expressed criticism of the deletion of the basic mandate clause in an internal conversation, reported “Zeit Online” on Tuesday, citing party circles. Many of the party’s top politicians, including at federal level, would share this view.
The basic mandate clause was abolished in the electoral law reform passed with the votes of the traffic light coalition.
Previously, she allowed a party with fewer than five percent of the second votes to enter parliament, as long as it won at least three direct mandates. The left benefited from this in the 2021 federal election, among other things.
The deletion gave the impression that the federal government was using the right to vote to harm the opposition, argued the Hessian Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Al-Wazir, according to “Zeit Online”, in an internal conversation between top politicians of the Greens from the federal and state governments.
According to the report, the party is now discussing whether the law on the Bundesrat can be stopped for the time being.
Fear of failure of the entire reform
Since the law does not require approval, an objection majority would be necessary. After that, the mediation committee between the Bundesrat and the Bundestag could deal with the law.
According to “Zeit Online”, however, the concern was expressed in internal party talks that the entire reform could ultimately fail, which should be avoided at all costs. That’s why the Greens were now looking for a way to just bring back the basic mandate clause without re-lacing the entire law.
Union and left criticize electoral law reform
The electoral law reform passed with the votes of the traffic light coalition stipulates the size of the Bundestag at 630 MPs. In order to achieve this, the second vote is given more weight – this can mean that not all constituency winners get into parliament.
In addition, towards the end of the legislative process, the basic mandate clause was deleted. The CDU and CSU criticize the reform, as does the left.
Esken rules out improvements to the electoral reform
SPD leader Saskia Esken ruled out improvements for the time being. In view of the announced lawsuits against the amendment to the law, the Federal Constitutional Court must first wait for the examination before possible compromise solutions can be discussed, Esken told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” on Tuesday.
The SPD chairwoman sees responsibility for the dispute over the electoral law reform in the CSU.
“All previous attempts to distribute voting weights more fairly with an electoral law reform and at the same time to reduce the size of the Bundestag have ultimately failed due to resistance from the CSU, which is only willing to accept changes that strengthen its own position,” said Esken.
“It is therefore good that the traffic light government has now found the strength to tackle effective electoral law reform,” said the SPD politician. (AFP)
