Opposite to popular belief, the 5%-hurdle which prohibits party which do not reach 5% of the nationwide vote (or respectively win three electoral districts) from entering the Bundestag, is not part of the Basic Law and had not yet been in effect for the first Bundestagswahl in 1949.
That way, 11 parties (counting the siblings CDU and CSU independantly) and three independant mandates entered the First Bundestag. The hurdle would have allowed only 7 of those.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_German_federal_election,_1949)
Afterwards, the present-day rule had come into effect.
How big would you deem the changes in political culture and concerning the resulting majorities in the FRG, if, e.g., the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Supreme Court) had decided that the hurdle was unconstitutional?
Just as an example; Sunday's elections (butterflies, I know) would have resulted in that:
CDU/CSU (moderate conservative) 248
SPD (social-democratic) 153
LINKE (socialist) 51
GRÜN (moderately leftist ecological) 50
Here we dive below the 5%-hurdle...
FDP (market-liberal) 28
AFD (conservative, anti-European) 28
Pirates (social-libertarian) 13
NPD (neo-nazi) 7
Free Voters (conservative) 5
Tierschutz (animal rights) 1
ÖDP (conservative-ecological) 1
Republikaner (national-conservative) 1
proD(anti-Islam/national-conservative) 1
DIE PARTEI (satirical) 1
That way, 11 parties (counting the siblings CDU and CSU independantly) and three independant mandates entered the First Bundestag. The hurdle would have allowed only 7 of those.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_German_federal_election,_1949)
Afterwards, the present-day rule had come into effect.
How big would you deem the changes in political culture and concerning the resulting majorities in the FRG, if, e.g., the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Supreme Court) had decided that the hurdle was unconstitutional?
Just as an example; Sunday's elections (butterflies, I know) would have resulted in that:
CDU/CSU (moderate conservative) 248
SPD (social-democratic) 153
LINKE (socialist) 51
GRÜN (moderately leftist ecological) 50
Here we dive below the 5%-hurdle...
FDP (market-liberal) 28
AFD (conservative, anti-European) 28
Pirates (social-libertarian) 13
NPD (neo-nazi) 7
Free Voters (conservative) 5
Tierschutz (animal rights) 1
ÖDP (conservative-ecological) 1
Republikaner (national-conservative) 1
proD(anti-Islam/national-conservative) 1
DIE PARTEI (satirical) 1