1. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 The German Federal Electoral System Hermann Schmitt MZES, University D-68131 Mannheim hschmitt@mzes.uni-mannheim.de

2. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 Four steps macro-consequences the political background the system as such micro-consequences

3. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 1. The background 1.1. The collapse of the Weimar Republic which was attributed, among other things, to the fragmentation of its party system, to ideological polarisation, and centrifugal party competition. 1.2. After WW2, the new electoral system aimed at contributing to party system concentration, centripetal party competition, and agreement on fundamentals among the competing parties.

4. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 2. The system as such 2.1. A mixed member proportional electoral system (personalisierte Verhältniswahl) was chosen. 2.2. It combines the local representation of a ‘first-past-the- post’ electoral system with the proportional representation list system.

5. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 2.3. Each voter has two votes, one for choosing between constituency candidates, and one for choosing between (the state lists of) federal parties. 2.4. About 300 of 600 MPs are directly elected constituency representatives, the other 300 are elected via party lists. 2.5. The nationwide share of ‘second votes’ (list votes) of a party determines the share of seats that it can fill.

6. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 2.7. If there are more directly elected candidates than allocates mandates (at state level), these “surplus mandates” of a party are retained. This causes less than perfect proportionality and varying overall numbers of Bundestag members. 2.6. Candidate/seat allocation is done at state level. Directly elected candidates of a party go first and are supplemented by (not directly elected) list candidates until every allocated seat is filled.

7. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 2.6. There is a threshold of representation applied which is set at 5 % (nationwide) of valid second votes. 2.8. Systematically speaking, the German MMP electoral system is a proportional system – and as such not so different from that of the Weimar Republic. 2.7. A party which obtains less list votes than 5 %, but wins three or more mandates directly, is also represented in the Bundestag.

8. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 3. Macro consequences 3.1. Party system concentration? Yes, the 5 % quorum in particular has been effective, but other factors like the structure of social cleavages and early economic growth (Wirtschaftswunder) have also contributed. 3.2. Moderation of party competition? The effect of the constitutional court (ban on extremist parties) and the limits on party elite strategies in a federal system were perhaps more important. 3.3. Higher turnout? Yes, but partisanship and close races too contribute heavily to turnout.

9. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 4. Micro consequences 4.1. Split-ticket voting (coalition voting) is possible and increasing over time (from 7 % in 1961 to 25 % in 2002). 4.2. Among representatives, the focus of representation (agenda vs position) co-varies modestly with type of mandate (constituency vs list).

10. “The German Federal Electoral System”, introduced by Hermann Schmitt at the APD-KAS conference on ‘Electoral Reform – A 15 Year Old Topic’ in Bukarest, June 16-17, 2005 5. An often neglected cause of succes 5.1. In most constituencies, the two major parties have been present with one MP each (one direct- ly, the other list-elected). If the Germany federal electoral systems contributed to party system concentration and stabilisation, it is not least due to this. 5.2. A FPTP system would probably not have produced this outcome, but rather contributed to continuing party system fragmentation.