The debate about the bloated Bundestag is coming to a head. Before the meeting of the coalition factions of the Union and SPD, Norbert Walter-Borjans rejects the proposal of the CDU and CSU. This played for time, he complains.
Berlin (dpa) - SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans considers a major electoral reform in this legislative period to be no longer feasible.
"The CDU and CSU have wasted a lot of time in recent months, which is why it is now too late for a fundamental reform almost a year before the election," he told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung". "We now need a transitional solution with an upper limit for the next Bundestag."
Walter-Borjans rejected the proposal of the Union parliamentary group a week before a coalition committee to reform the electoral law. "The Union parties are all about their own tactical advantage. We cannot accept that," said the SPD politician. "If the union proposal were applied after the next election, the CDU and CSU would have more mandates than they are actually entitled to after the second vote result. That would be a one-sided advantage for the CDU and CSU, of course at the expense of all other parties."
The Union parliamentary group had agreed on a model that already provides for the reduction of the constituencies from 299 to 280 for the upcoming federal election in autumn 2021. In addition, there should be a partial offsetting of overhang mandates of one party with list mandates of this party as well as a non-settlement of up to seven overhang mandates. The SPD, for example, recently held Union parliamentary deputy Thorsten Frei (CDU), against all assertions, "unfortunately not having any serious interest in downsizing the Bundestag, even in view of the current red-red-green business games".
Walter-Borjans announced that the coalition committee on August 25 was looking for a way out. With 709 members, the Bundestag is bigger than ever since the 2017 election. It is feared that it could grow to more than 800 seats in the coming year if the electoral law is not changed.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200820-99-233328 / 2
