- The Court of Justice has not yet ruled on the question.
Bavaria's Interior Minister, Joachim Herrmann (CSU), welcomed the federal constitutional court's election law ruling as a significant success for the Bavarian state government and for Bavaria, calling it a good day for the CSU. He stated that it was crucial that the court declared the abolition of the basic mandate clause unconstitutional, saying this in Karlsruhe before the ruling was announced, but after its contents had already been leaked.
However, Herrmann expressed regret that the court approved other parts of the new election law. In the future, the number of parliamentary seats will be determined solely by a party's second vote results, even if they have won more direct mandates. In this case, the winners of the constituencies with the worst first vote results will not receive a seat.
Herrmann stated that he still believes that such a system, which subsequently declares elected direct candidates as not elected, is hardly understandable to citizens. "But we will have to accept it," he said.
Election Law Reform Partially Unconstitutional
The Federal Constitutional Court ruled in its judgment that parts of the election law reform are unconstitutional, specifically the abolition of the so-called basic mandate clause in the new election law. According to this clause, parties also entered the Bundestag in the strength of their second vote results if they fell below the five percent hurdle but won at least three direct mandates.
The planned abolition of the basic mandate clause would have particularly affected the CSU and the Left. In the 2021 election, the CSU received 5.2 percent of the second votes nationwide. If it were to slip below the five percent mark in the next election, it would have been excluded from the Bundestag under the traffic light election law, even if it had won most of the constituencies in Bavaria directly. However, the Federal Constitutional Court has now struck down this part of the election law reform.
The Commission has upheld the constitutionality of most parts of the election law reform, but it has declared the abolition of the basic mandate clause unconstitutional, which was a concern for the CSU. Despite this victory, Herrmann expressed his frustration that the court approved other aspects of the new election law that he finds hard to explain to citizens.
