Traffic light mood “poisoned”
Union: Hard times are coming for the FDP
4/2/2023 8:06 am
The electoral law reform could have consequences for parties based on second votes. The Union believes that the FDP will be the big loser there. According to Vice-Chairman of the parliamentary group Lindholz, the image conveyed by the Liberals at the traffic lights is not enough to convince voters.
The deputy parliamentary group leader of the Union, Andrea Lindholz, sees hard times ahead for the FDP. “In my opinion, the FDP made a significant miscalculation with its decision for the traffic light coalition,” said the CSU member of the Bundestag. One can regret that, but the FDP is ultimately responsible for its own happiness. “There are hard times ahead for the liberals, after this electoral reform anyway,” predicted the domestic politician. “Because it’s clear that we’re going to launch a tough campaign for first and second votes in the next federal election.”
Andrea Lindholz counts the FDP.
(Photo: dpa)
The electoral law reform passed in the Bundestag on March 17 with the votes of the traffic light coalition means that constituencies won by direct candidates may not be allocated, said Lindholz. That and the deletion of the basic mandate clause inserted in the final few meters of the draft are unacceptable. The process was carried out by the coalition partners with a “basta mentality”.
That has consequences, even beyond the dispute over the right to vote. Lindholz said: “The climate has naturally deteriorated considerably among ourselves.” The mood was partly “really poisoned”. The FDP is trying to give the impression that it has “prevented even worse things from happening” in the coalition with the SPD and the Greens, said Lindholz. But no one gets elected.
The coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP had decided on an electoral law reform in order to permanently reduce the Bundestag, which had inflated to 736 MPs, to 630 MPs. The so-called basic mandate clause should be dropped. So far, it has ensured that parties with the strength of their second vote result in the Bundestag also entered the Bundestag if they were less than five percent but won at least three direct mandates. The Left Party benefited from this in 2021, which had only achieved 4.9 percent of the second votes. The CSU came to 5.2 percent in 2021, but won almost all direct mandates in Bavaria. Experts therefore see the Left Party and the CSU as the main victims of the reform.