On May 10, 2015 the federal state of Bremen applied an electoral system with five votes
and the possibility of accumulating and cross-voting for the second time. The participation
rate declined to 50.2 percent, the lowest level ever. Contrary to the assumption that the
complicated electoral system is responsible for this, it seems that voters appreciate the options the new system offers: Slightly more than one third of them votes in the traditional
way and gives all five votes to the list of candidates of one party only. Overall the number
of votes given for the list of candidates decreased, but the number of personal votes for
particular candidates remained stable even though the participation rate fell. Parties, especially
the Social Democrats, criticize the voting system since many candidates from lower
ranks receive a seat through personal votes, which complicates working in the parliamentary
group. Moreover, the gender quota of the list of candidates is messed up, and the
number of candidates under the age of 25 has dropped. Therefore Social Democrats and
Left Party are trying to lower the influence of the personal votes. On the other hand: the
personal votes bring election campaigns closer to the citizens. The number of deputies from
immigration families rises; the median age of the deputies decreases. Contrary to this criticism,
“Mehr Demokratie”, a non-governmental organization that initiated the current voting
system, tends to give more importance to the personal votes. Maybe the electoral issue
will have to be decided by a referendum. [ZParl, vol. 46 (2015), no. 3, pp. 578 – 588]
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
