German Electoral System Research Articles

By decree or by design? The surplus seats problem in the German electoral system: Causes and remedies1

The ‘surplus seat’ phenomenon in the electoral system of Germany has, since reunification, taken on an importance it lacked in the period before 1990. The causes of ‘surplus seats’ are investigated, together with appropriate remedies, and the basis and effects of recent decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court are assessed.

Contamination effects and the number of parties in mixed-superposition electoral systems

The mixed-superposition system is a relatively new variant of the German electoral system. It has been adopted by emerging and established democracies without adequate understanding of its potential impact on the party system. Using the Japanese and Russian cases, our analysis demonstrates that mixed-superposition systems generate incentives and outcomes that differ from PR and SMD systems and encourage the development of a multiparty system. We test the degree to which the mechanical effect punishes small parties in mixed-superposition, PR and SMD systems and find that the mechanical effect is less punishing in mixed-superposition systems than in SMD systems. We also test whether or not there is contamination across the components of the mixed-superposition system with regression analyses of district-level voting data. Our results support the notion that mixed systems are not simple combinations of their component parts and that scholars must control for contamination when they study mixed systems.

Plurality Rule vs. Proportional Representation. How Much of a Difference Do Electoral Rules Make? Evidence from Germany

This paper examines the importance of electoral rules for legislators' behavior. It uses a quasi-natural experiment that assigns whether legislators are elected under the first-pass-the-post (FPTP), or the proportional representation (PR) electoral rule. The experiment is generated by the current German electoral system. This approach can identify the effect of electoral rules on legislators' behavior without being subject to a simultaneous equation bias. This approach can disentangle whether so-called pork barrel politics are due to political climate in a country or due to the electoral rule employed. We find that the FPTP system gives legislators incentives to service their geographically based constituency as evidenced by their committee assignments. Legislators elected through PR seek committees that service the party constituencies, which are not necessarily geographically based.

Split-ticket voting in German Federal elections, 1953–90: an example of sophisticated balloting?

Though the German electoral system has provided the opportunity of split-ticket voting since 1953, until now there has only been mere speculation concerning the rationality of ticket-splitting. In this paper we examine the rationality thesis empirically, using data provided by the official representative electoral statistics of the Federal Republic. Modifying the Downsian notion of rational voting, rational ticket-splitting is defined in terms of coalition building and of voters' expectations of the electoral success of candidates and parties. Applying this conceptual framework, it will be shown that the combinations of first and second votes actually chosen by a majority of the German electorate can rather be conceived of as a product of accident than of tactical considerations.

Maximising small party potential: The effects of electoral system rules on the far right in German sub‐national elections

Drawing on a data base of election results at national, regional and sub‐national level, this paper examines the impact of the German electoral system on the representation of far right parties. While the electoral threshold of five per cent is a hindrance to small parties at all levels, low district magnitude at sub‐national level tends to exacerbate under‐representation and the minority status of small parties while high district magnitude may result in over‐representation, in particular if a party secures around ten per cent. The paper concludes that electoral representation of small parties with limited resources is affected by votes gained, district magnitude and seat distribution at a given electoral level. Depending on the combination of these factors, the system of translating votes into seats may favour or disadvantage small parties.

Neglected aspects of the German electoral system

The mechanics of the German electoral system can produce unexpected anomalous results of potential significance.

An Election with No Losers: The 1994 Federal Elections in the New Germany

The German federal election in October 1994, just four years after German Unity, revealed that clear divisions between east and west Germany still exist. Whilst the PDS on the left of the political spectrum was supported by around one fifth of east German voters, the parties on the right gained negligible support in Germany as a whole. The federal German electoral system, based on a personalised sytem of PR, again played a key role; it is, however still too early in the development of the new Germany to speak of a single new party system.

A inexistência de um sistema eleitoral misto e suas conseqüências na adoção do sistema alemão no Brasil

O sistema eleitoral alemão sempre despertou a simpatia dos insatisfeitos com o atual modelo representativo brasileiro. E, não-só no Brasil, esse sistema eleitoral tem sido considerado como o paradigma de uma terceira categoria de sistema eleitoral, a dos sistemas mistos, que reuniria elementos dos dois outros ramos dos sistemas eleitorais, o majoritário e o proporcional. Chega-se, neste artigo, à conclusão de que essa terceira categoria de sistemas eleitorais não existe e que o sistema alemão pertence à categoria dos sistemas proporcionais, o que faz com que sua adoção no Brasil seja menos dificultosa do que aparenta.

Bonus seats in the German electoral system

The size of the Bundestag can vary according to the electoral arithmetic. How this happens is explained below. The political consequence was significant in 1994.

The method of electing the German Bundestag and its effect on the parties

The 5% threshold and ‘two‐vote’ features of the German electoral system are more complicated than they seem. Eckhard Jesse explains.

The best of both worlds? The Danish electoral system 1915–20 in a comparative perspective

The Danish 1915–1920 Lower House electoral system combined a traditional plurality system and a PR system with multi-stage compensatory seats in two provincial regions, and closed party list PR in the third, metropolitan, region. This complex system is presented and its effects on the distribution of seats in the Folketing are analysed. It was an early—and now neglected—case of personalized PR which calls for comparisons with later cases of this kind of electoral system, notably the post-1949 German electoral system and the 1990 electoral systems in Hungary and Bulgaria. In order to assess if such comparisons are appropriate, the paper also asks if these four electoral systems are genuine ‘mixed’ systems or PR systems in disguise.

The Role of Mass Media in West German Election Campaigns

In the German political system, elections to the national and state legislatures are based upon a mixture of party lists and individual local candidate choice. The mass media system consists of nationalized television programming and regional and local newspapers. Because paid advertising by parties is prohibited, there are few opportunities for the development of a personal vote. Since 1984, however, four pilot projects have been initiated to experiment with commercial television, and parties are using paid commercials on these outlets. Attention and exposure to campaign coverage is high, but their effects on voter preference and turnout vary widely. Advertising in campaigns is likely to increase, but the strong national forces of the German electoral system are unlikely to lead to a renaissance of the local candidate.

The West German electoral system: The case for reform, 1949–87

Since the 1960s the question of electoral reform (specifically the introduction of a majority voting system) has not been a live issue in West Germany. The wide acceptance of proportional representation has much to do with changes in political culture ‐ a greater tolerance of conflict and less concern with stability. Foreign observers often treat the West German system as a model. However, the two‐vote system, although seen as maximising electoral choice, is seriously defective: it is confusing, encourages manipulation, and gives voters the false impression of having a greater degree of choice than is actually the case.

The West German Electoral System—Thirty Years on

The West German Electoral System—Thirty Years on

Review

ADEMOCRACY WHICH WORKS an analysis of the West German electoral system Richard Holme A5 pp iv + 28 Parliamentary Democracy Trust 1978 80p.

The Significance of Void Ballots in West German Elections

In the 1961 federal election six per cent of West German voters failed to cast two valid votes under the single-ballot, two-vote German electoral system: 1.3 million voters cast their party list vote invalidly, while almost one million failed to vote validly for a district candidate. Since 1949—and 1953, when the present single-ballot, two-vote system was introduced —the development of the invalid vote has been as shown in Table I.Not only has the total invalid vote increased steadily, despite the counter-movement of first and second vote trends; it has also been exceptionally high in comparison to the Weimar Republic, Imperial Germany and other Western European countries. Thus in pre-Hitler Germany the invalid vote seldom exceeded 1 per cent of the poll. In postwar parliamentary elections in Scandinavia it has not yet exceeded 1 per cent while in Britain, Switzerland and Austria it has approached 2 per cent only in rare instances. In Fourth and Fifth Republic France spoiled and blank ballots have been constant at about 3 per cent of the poll. Only in isolated cases—for example, where compulsory voting is combined with a deep-seated social and politicalmalaise, as in Belgium—has the invalid vote been comparable in proportion to that of Western Germany.