According to the SPD, the coalition wants to get the electoral law reform to reduce the size of the Bundestag through the Bundestag before the end of this year, despite the opposition’s considerable concerns – as agreed in the coalition agreement. “Our goal is to start the legislative process in September and have it completed by the end of the year. In doing so, we will follow the normal procedure and not resort to shorter deadlines, ”said the spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Sebastian Hartmann, to the editorial network Germany (RND).
In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed: “We will revise the electoral law within the first year in order to prevent the Bundestag from growing in the long term.”
This Tuesday, the coalition factions are to adopt key points for the reform. The traffic light is intended to limit the Bundestag to 598 mandates, overhang and compensation mandates are to be eliminated. The number of direct mandates a party has should be based on its share of second votes. This could mean that direct mandates do not go to the winner of the first vote in a constituency – in this case a third vote should be introduced, with which it can be determined who the constituency mandate should go to. The Union rejects this and threatens a constitutional complaint.
