Direct mandate

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In Germany, a direct mandate is a parliamentary mandate that is won by the candidate who receives the most votes in a parliamentary election in a constituency . With the personalized proportional representation common in Germany , a party receives correspondingly fewer list mandates for seats won in the constituencies, so that direct mandates generally have no influence on the number of seats of the parties in parliament. On the other hand, with majority voting, such as in Great Britain, the number of seats of the parties depends solely on their success in the constituencies.

Germany

Bundestag elections

299 members of the German Bundestag are elected directly in their Bundestag constituency. At least another 299 (299 plus any overhang seats ) will be elected from their party's electoral list ( candidate list ). The first vote and the second vote can be given independently of each other. In the election to the German Bundestag, the direct mandates are awarded by the first votes in accordance with the Federal Election Act.

According to the federal election law , candidates from political parties and possibly non-party candidates, so-called individual applicants , compete against each other in each constituency . The election is based on the relative majority voting system, ie the candidate with the most votes is elected.

If a party can win at least three direct mandates, it will also receive mandates in accordance with its share of the second vote if it has won less than five percent of the second votes ( basic mandate clause ). This was last the case in 1994 , when the PDS was able to win four direct mandates, but only 4.4% of the second votes. The total number of mandates that a party receives is determined by its share of the second votes. The direct mandates are deducted from the mandates to which she is entitled according to this share, the others are filled with applicants from the list. If a party has more direct mandates than it is entitled to after second votes, there are overhang mandates . Since compensatory mandates have existed since 2013 , overhangs for one party increase the Bundestag, but no longer give it any systematic advantage through a higher proportion of mandates.

Members of the Bundestag elected by party through direct mandates
choice CDU CSU SPD FDP BP DP center PDS /
The Left
Alliance 90 /
Greens
AfD Independent total
1949 91 24 96 12 11 5 - - - - 3 242
1953 130 42 45 14th - 10 1 - - - - 242
1957 147 47 46 1 - 6th - - - - - 247
1961 114 42 91 - - - - - - - - 247
1965 118 36 94 - - - - - - - - 248
1969 87 34 127 - - - - - - - - 248
1972 65 31 152 - - - - - - - - 248
1976 94 40 114 - - - - - - - - 248
1980 81 40 127 - - - - - - - - 248
1983 136 44 68 - - - - - - - - 248
1987 124 45 79 - - - - - - - - 248
1990 192 43 91 1 - - - 1 - - - 328
1994 177 44 103 - - - - 4th - - - 328
1998 74 38 212 - - - - 4th - - - 328
2002 82 43 171 - - - - 2 1 - - 299
2005 106 44 145 - - - - 3 1 - - 299
2009 173 45 64 - - - - 16 1 - - 299
2013 191 45 58 - - - - 4th 1 - - 299
2017 185 46 59 - - - - 5 1 3 - 299

State elections

Some of the members of most state parliaments are elected directly in their constituency and some are elected via their party's electoral list (a candidate may only run in one constituency). Only in Hamburg, Bremen and Saarland are there no single-person constituencies. The proportion of direct mandates in the total number of seats varies between the different federal states. In principle, the procedure for distributing seats is similar. There are compensation mandates for overhang mandates everywhere. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt the number of compensation mandates is limited, so that overhang mandates that are not balanced can arise.

There are no electoral lists for elections to the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg . Direct mandates, which are called first mandates in Baden-Württemberg , are awarded to the winners of the respective constituencies and second mandates to the inferior constituency candidates with the highest percentage of votes.

Web links

Wiktionary: direct mandate  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Federal Election Act § 20 Content and form of the district election proposals. " In: gesetze-im-internet.de .