Wagschal, Uwe and Sebastian Jäckle: The paradox of electoral law: Uncovered constituencies constitutionally permitted in 2025 – problematic for democracy.
This article examines the effects of the new electoral law for the 2025 federal election, in particular the problem of “uncovered constituencies”. The new second-vote coverage procedure means that direct candidates only receive a mandate if their party obtains enough seats through the second votes. This led to 23 constituency winners not entering the Bundestag, four constituencies remaining completely unrepresented, and some constituencies being represented by politicians who did not receive the most first votes. The article analyses various scenarios: in the ‘all-in scenario’, in which all small parties (FDP, Left Party, BSW) would enter the Bundestag, there would have been up to 39 uncovered constituencies. In the ‘all-out scenario’ (no small parties in the Bundestag), there would have been only seven. The election result showed that the CDU was particularly affected by the regulation. The authors criticize the democratic problems of the new electoral law, as it damages trust in the electoral system. They suggest reform options to solve the problem of uncovered constituencies, including a reduction in the number of constituencies, limited surplus mandates or the introduction of federal lists. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Spohn, Nicolas K.: State elections in the East – new parties, old strategies? The parliamentary recruitment of East German state parliament members from 1990 to 2024.
The recruitment of politicians is a central task of political parties in democracies. In order to understand who enters politics and how the political mandate is obtained, we must first ask under which criteria the parties nominate their potential candidates. In this context, it is especially worth looking at the East German state parliaments. More than three decades have passed since the democratic rebirth in the wake of the German reunification, during which the parties‘ recruitment practices have become increasingly professionalized. In order to understand this change, this article examines the occupational and educational backgrounds of East German members of parliament since 1990, how these have changed over time and to what extent party-specific patterns can be identified. To answer these questions, socio-structural data of all 1,922 East German members of parliament was analyzed descriptively and within a logit regression. The results show that the recruitment of the political staff mainly follows a logic of self-reference, with those who have a high degree of occupational proximity to the party and have gained recognition through many years of involvement in party politics receiving preferred access to the state parliament. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Jesse, Eckhard: The Saxon state parliament election on September 1, 2024: First minority government led by the CDU.
The eighth state election in the Saxon Free State – 35 years after the peaceful revolution – was particularly eagerly awaited because of the following question: Will the AfD, which clearly became the strongest party in the state in both the 2021 federal election and the 2024 European election, win the prestigious first place? The AfD, which narrowly missed the blocking minority, was able to increase its share of the vote, but the CDU under its popular Minister President Michael Kretschmer was ahead of it. In addition to one member of the Free Voters, six parties are now represented in the new state parliament. While the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) achieved a double-digit result straight away, the SPD, the Left and the FDP each achieved negative records. The previous three-party coalition (CDU, SPD, Greens) missed the parliamentary majority and was unable to continue its work. Since the BSW broke off exploratory talks with the CDU and SPD, a minority government had to be formed for the first time. A consultation process that includes the parties in the parliamentary opposition is intended to ensure stability. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Oppelland, Torsten: The Thuringian state parliament election on September 1, 2024: No end to experiments.
The Thuringian state parliament election on September 1, 2024 was a vote on the red-red-green minority government of the last election period. The voters‘ verdict was very clear, the governing parties suffered a dramatic defeat; the Greens even failed to return to the Landtag. The opposition parties benefited from this to very different degrees: The CDU, which had helped the government obtain a majority, made only small gains, while the AfD and the newly founded Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) won considerably. As the CDU ruled out cooperation with both Die Linke and AfD, the election produced a stalemate in the state parliament with AfD and Linke on one side and CDU, BSW and SPD on the other. There was therefore hardly any alternative to a coalition between these three parties. Although this proved difficult to achieve due to the veto power of BSW Chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht and her insistence on the BSW’s core peace policy, it was successful in the end. The Left made it possible for the CDU candidate Mario Voigt to be elected Minister President in the first round of voting and in return received the promise of regular consultations with the parliamentary parties carrying the government. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Zissel, Pierre: The Thuringian local elections in May and June 2024: More seats on the far right, but no executive office.
The combined local elections in Thuringia on May 26 and June 9, 2024 were seen as a precursor to the state elections on September 1, 2024. After the AfD won its first county executive (Landrat) post and emerged as the strongest party in the state according to polls, concerns grew that extremists might gain influence in councils as well as in mayoral and county executive offices. However, these concerns only partially materialized. While the AfD became the strongest force in some county assemblies and a few municipal councils, it failed to secure mayoral and county executive offices in the run-off elections due to the mutual support of democratic parties. As a result, the CDU emerged as the main winner in most direct elections and also secured the most votes among the parties in municipal and county elections. In contrast, left-wing parties experienced electoral losses across the state. In most rural municipalities in Thuringia, beyond party competition, local voter groups and civil society continue to shape local politics. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Niedermayer, Oskar: The Brandenburg state parliament election on September 22, 2024: Dietmar Woidke goes “all in” and wins.
The final phase of the election campaign was dominated by the struggle between the SPD and the AfD to become the largest party. The polarization and mobilization resulted in the historically highest turnout of 72,9 percent. The SPD won the election with 30,9 percent, the AfD came second with 29,2 percent. The newly founded Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) achieved 13,5 percent, whereas the CDU with 12,1 percent dropped back to fourth place with its historically worst result. The Greens, the FDP and the Left Party crashed dramatically and failed to overcome the five-percent-hurdle. The SPD concentrated the campaign extremely on its front runner Dietmar Woidke, who in comparison to his contenders was better rated in all aspects. In addition, the SPD got the best general evaluation and problem-solving competence. However, the AfD could considerably gain problem-solving competence in all the relevant political problems. Because none of the other parties would form a coalition with the AfD, only one option for a majority government was possible: a coalition of SPD and BSW, which was built after difficult negotiations. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Spohn, Nicolas K.: Two steps forward, one step back. Declining percentage of women in East German parliaments.
Despite legal equality, women remain a minority on all levels of political offices, mainly due to unequal access to political power. This article therefore examines structural disadvantages that women experience in the context of internal party recruitment, how these have changed over time and to what extent party-specific patterns can be identified. To answer these questions, socio-structural data of all 2,019 East German members of parliament and government were analysed descriptively and within a logit regression. The results show that women are still at a disadvantage within the party selection process compared to men, although there are distinctive party differences. While parties on the left-progressive spectrum largely strive for parity, the share of women in conservative and liberal parties is comparatively low. With the current shift in seats, it can be assumed that the parliamentary representation of women will initially fall and then stagnate at a lower level. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
a Campo, Frank: Seat excess and seat bias of the North Rhine-Westphalian apportionment method according to Rock.
On July 4, 2024, the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament adopted a law amending the municipal election act. By this law, the apportionment method of Sainte-Laguë (Webster’s method) applied so far in North Rhine-Westphalia is replaced by a so-called “quota method with percentual residual fit”. This method is examined here under the mathematical aspects of seat excess and seat bias. In the theoretical section, we demonstrate that it systematically favors larger parties in seat allocation while similarly disadvantaging smaller parties, resulting in significant seat biases. Applying the method to the North Rhine-Westphalian municipal election in 2020 confirms these theoretical predictions. The disadvantage of smaller parties is not limited to very small parties. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Fromm, Nadin, Kevin W. Settles, Pascal Dißmer, Arina Jolin Blattner, Anna Bolten, Miriam Paradissis, Nicole Höft, Anika Huxoll, Cornelia Geffert, Marie Hüster, Janette Laschke and Alexander Schmidt: Local politicians under pressure: On the roles of municipal representatives.
Local politicians act as key players in municipal self-governance, navigating the tension between rising expectations and limited room for maneuver while maintaining direct contact with citizens. Based on 38 interviews, this study examines how council members in small and medium-sized German towns perceive and shape their roles. The majority of respondents see themselves as mediators between citizens and the administration – a role complicated by the challenge of balancing the common good, bureaucratic constraints, and citizen engagement. To strengthen dialogue with citizens and reduce tensions, they increasingly employ digital participation formats – an approach that relies on broad user acceptance, which is not yet consistently achieved. At the same time, there is a growing need for professionalization and targeted support to enable local politicians to fulfill their role as “translators” between citizen interests and administrative processes. Future research should focus on concrete reform approaches that enhance local politics as an active platform for political participation and contribute to stabilizing democratic structures. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Meister-Scheufelen, Gisela: A wake-up call not only for the legislators.
Why does the business community in Germany now see excessive bureaucracy as the biggest competitive disadvantage, even more so than the shortage of skilled workers and energy costs? Why are complaints from the public about incomprehensible and impractical laws on increasing numbers? What are the possible solutions? The quality of legislation can be improved with a greater focus on facts, a quantified bureaucracy reduction target, the establishment of a parliamentary committee for bureaucracy reduction and evaluation and, above all, better training for legislators. Key features are better comprehensibility, effectiveness and practicability, regulations which reduce costs, digital suitability and a realistic assessment of the impact of legislation. A bureaucracy cost ratio measured against company turnover could map and monitor the actual burden and could be politically operationalized as a brake on bureaucracy. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Schmid, Matthias: The “Center for Legistics” project: Methods and tools for effective and low-bureaucracy lawmaking.
Lawmaking requires specific skills that must be learned and taught – no one is born a policy maker and legal drafter. The state acts in central areas through lawmaking, and every technical flaw causes enormous socio-economic costs. In order to eliminate existing deficits in state practice, the Center for Legistics aims to qualify lawyers for legislation that is suitable for digitalization and has a low level of bureaucracy, and to develop and provide the necessary tools and methods. The project, agreed in the coalition agreement of the federal government in 2021, initially focuses on the crucial conception phase between the political mandate and the “first text”, because this is where the essential structural decisions for future regulation are made. It uses modern methods such as design thinking. In the future, the Center for Legistics should serve as an anchor point for the digitalization of legislation. At the same time, it should act as a link between practical lawmaking and academia, promoting the exchange between theory and practice. Innovative methods such as rule-mapping are available to support structured modeling of regulation right from the drafting phase, thus facilitating the digital enforcement of the law. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
Falter, Jürgen W. and Dirk Hänisch: “A new era in German history begins here and now” – The election of Paul von Hindenburg as Reich President in 1925.
The year 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the historically momentous presidential election of 1925, in which Paul von Hindenburg was elected Reich President. With 48.3 percent, Hindenburg only narrowly beat the candidate of the Centre Party, SPD and DDP, Wilhelm Marx, in the second round of voting. The analysis asks where the votes for the individual candidates in the first round came from compared to the December 1924 Reichstag election, where they were successful and less successful and which candidates the voters of the first round chose in the second round. A separate section is devoted to the performance of the candidates in Bavaria, as the BVP’s (Bavarian People’s Party) recommendation to its supporters to back Paul von Hindenburg instead of the Catholic sister party’s candidate, the Center Party politician Marx, helped him to win the election. This article is the first analysis of both ballots of this historically so significant vote using modern electoral history methods, which – unbeknownst to contemporaries at the time – ultimately paved the way for Adolf Hitler’s appointment as Reich Chancellor. [ZParl, vol. 56 (2025), no. 1, pp.]
