Fall 2002

Proportional Representation example

SIMPLIFIED EXAMPLE OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

WITH 5% LIMITATION

Figures are taken from the December 1990 all-Germany election.

Remember that the "first ballot" is directly for a candidate (i.e., one of the candidates) running in your district; the "second ballot" is for proportional representation.

The "party list" for proportional representation purposes is made up by the party central committee. It includes candidates who the party would like to see in office (as a reward; or because of their expertise) but who could not win in a direct election.

Note that only 88% of the voters actually have their second ballot count; 12% of the voters have their second ballots excluded because the party named didn't get above 5% of the votes.

Here is an explanation from the short article, “Electing the Bundestag: The Basics” The Week in Germany September 25, 1998, p.2:

1)        All German citizens 18 and older may vote.

2)        Every voter has two votes: the first is for a specific candidate running in the local electoral district and the second for a party.

3)        There are in principle twice as many seats in the Bundestag (656) as there are electoral districts. Half the seats go to the candidates who win pluralities of the first votes in the electoral districts. The other half, determined by the results of the second vote, are allotted on the basis of proportional representation. The number of Bundestag seats is not fixed; it can change as needed to maintain proportional representation (see 5).

4)        There is a “five-percent rule” in Germany’s system of proportional representation: a party must win at least five percent of the total national vote to receive seats on the basis of the second vote. There is, however, an important exception to the five-percent rule: if a party wins three or more seats in first-vote balloting for individual electoral districts, it is allotted seats corresponding to its share of the total vote. In 1994, for example, the Party of Democratic Socialism won 4.4 percent of the vote but received 30 Bundestag seats because it had carried four districts.

5)        If a party wins more seats through the first vote than it would be entitled to by proportional representation, it retains the extra seats and the number of Bundestag seats is increased to maintain proportional representation. In the 1994 election, the Christian Democratic Union received twelve additional seats (Überhangmandate) as a result of this provision and the Social Democrats four.

6)        Voters do not directly choose the chancellor; the parties nominate candidates for the chancellorship before the general election, but the actual vote for the new government is carried out within the Bundestag.