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Ives

· Föderation EN So 23.02.2025 14:16:55

@jssfr @FediTips You get two votes? Interesting. Care to elaborate how that works?

Jonas Schäfer

Föderation EN So 23.02.2025 14:25:44

@ives @FediTips

You get a ballot with two columns. Left hand is the first vote, right hand is the second vote.

The first vote is for a *person* associated with a *party*, which differs per voting district. The person with the most votes in that district gets a seat (or used to, see below). In any case, the first votes are only summarized up to the district level, then the winning candidate is chosen.

The second vote is for a *party*. The second votes are summarized across the entire country. The second vote determines the ratio of seats the parties get.

Before the last change of mechanics between 2021 and today, all candidates chosen via the first vote would get in unconditionally. That caused caused the parliament to get insanely large because the share of parties as determined by the second vote still had to be upheld. Example: if the target size of parliament was 500 and a party got 20%, but 110 candidates were elected via first vote, they would get 10 extra seats, which would then cause 40 extra seats to be distributed among the other parties to ensure the correct ratio (I hope I didn't make maths mistake here).

That led to an insanely large parliament in the past, so it was changed so that extra directly elected candidates would not get into the parliament (the ranking of candidates which get in is based on number of votes, IIRC).

Wikipedia has more details en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesta

And to elaborate on how that relates to what I wrote earlier: If a party has less than 5% share of second votes, it is barred from entering parliament, *unless* it has at least three directly elected candidates. So the first vote can be used to get a party in which would barely fail due to the 5% hurdle, but only if people coordinate in a district (because there it's winner-takes-all). The second vote is thus usually wasted on smaller parties and that only benefits the largest parties.

Adam Barnett

Föderation EN So 23.02.2025 14:30:08

@ives @jssfr @FediTips I’m assuming your question is in good faith, so here’s a wiki link which gives a high level answer to your question
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electora

Germans elect their members of parliament with two votes. The first vote is for a direct candidate, who is required to receive a plurality vote in their electoral district. The second vote is used to elect a party list in each state as established by its respective party caucus.

Jonas Schäfer

Föderation EN So 23.02.2025 14:32:42

@dreadpir8robots @ives @FediTips Note that the (very relevant) section en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electora is not up-to-date with the results of the constitutional challenge of the reform. That seems to be better described in the section I linked.

Adam Barnett

Föderation EN So 23.02.2025 14:35:47

@jssfr @ives @FediTips oh I didn’t see your reply, which is much more comprehensive and useful than mine. Thanks.

Ives

Föderation EN So 23.02.2025 15:35:36

@dreadpir8robots @jssfr @FediTips Thank you both (and @menel). Always interesting to see how other countries implement voting.
Crossing my fingers for a non-AfD outcome.

Menel

Föderation EN So 23.02.2025 14:37:41

It's like this
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed-member_proportional_representation

One local candidate gets the first vote, winner will get a seat.

And the more important second vote will determinate the % of seats in the parliament.