Germany's top court partially backs reform to cut number of MPs in parliament
Germany's highest court on Tuesday upheld the central part of an electoral reform designed to downsize the country's increasingly bloated parliament.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Germany's highest court has upheld a proposal to downsize its parliament, but overturned
00:06a plan change that would disproportionately impact smaller parties.
00:11The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled the abolition of the so-called basic
00:17mandate clause unlawful.
00:20It came after they received objections from the centre-right Christian Social Union and
00:25the smaller left party, who feared the change could cost them their chance to send lawmakers
00:30to Berlin.
00:32The maintaining of this rule means that parties receiving less than 5% of the vote will still
00:38be represented in the Bundestag if they have at least three directly elected lawmakers.
00:44However, the core elements of the electoral reform will remain in place.
00:49This includes the cutting down of the Bundestag from 736 members to 630, as well as the abolition
00:57of the overhang and compensatory mandates.