Abstract
In Germany, the election to the 9th European Parliament (EP) was influenced by a modification of the electoral law, as it had already occurred in the preceding European election . The removal of the five-percent threshold once more gave seven small parties with a total of nine candidates access to the EP . The AfD managed to secure seats for eleven candidates (2014: 7) . In addition the election was mainly influenced by political controversies on the national level, which held especially true for the six established parties . The result was an impressive increase of seats for the Green Party and losses for the SPD and the CDU in particular . A main impact, caused by the voters’ decision but also by the parties’ appointments of candidates, was the huge number of new parliamentarians (more than 50 percent) in the EP, probably with some implications for the parliament’s capacity of action and influence . With respect to MPs’ social profile and their ability to exercise their parliamentary mandate in a politically competent manner, there are only few differences in the overall high educational background, in the age pattern, and some in the gender proportion . What has changed in comparison to the previous parliament is the previous parliamentary experience of the newcomers: It is lower but with significant differences between the parties . Especially AfD-MPs gained extraordinary little political experience before entering the EP (81 .8 percent) . This seems to be in correspondence with the anti-parliamentarian attitude of the Alternative Party . A counterweight are the established parties whose new MPs have ample parliamentary experience at the regional or national level or have at least been active in their party over years . [ZParl, vol . 50 (2019), no . 4, pp . 754 - 776]
Published Version
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