As of: January 31, 2024, 12:34 p.m
By: Laura May
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Friedrich Merz accuses the coalition of manipulating the electoral law.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
Gris for the AfD’s mill?
Friedrich Merz accuses the traffic light coalition of manipulating electoral law - and is himself receiving criticism for it.
Berlin – The right to vote is causing heated disputes in Berlin.
At the beginning of the week, CDU leader Friedrich Merz again accused the traffic light coalition of manipulating voting rights.
In doing so, he criticized the planned change in the federal electoral law, according to which Saxony-Anhalt would lose a constituency as the proportion of the population declines.
In Bavaria, however, an additional constituency is to be created from parts of the heavily populated constituencies of Augsburg-Land and Neu-Ulm and Ostallgäu.
The adjustment is scheduled to be voted on on February 1st.
Merz spoke of “great damage” to German democracy.
It is a targeted measure that only means that Claudia Roth (Greens) “can keep her constituency in the next federal election in the city of Augsburg”.
In his view, the change is reminiscent of strategic constituency shifts in the USA (gerrymandering).
After criticizing Merz, the FDP and SPD are outraged by allegations of electoral manipulation
However, accusing the traffic light coalition of anti-democratic electoral reforms brings Merz himself criticism.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) spoke of outrageous allegations on Platform X (formerly Twitter): “That’s how the AfD would argue.”
External voices also see Merz's allegations as a dangerous trend, which in turn weakens trust in the Federal Republic's democracy.
“Standing up the myth of alleged election manipulation in order to undermine basic trust in democracy.
Absolutely bizarre,” wrote journalist Anna Brockschmidt on X.
Traffic light electoral reform: “This is not how you build a firewall for the AfD, you tear it down”
Campact board member Christoph Bautz also criticized on X that Merz was adding “oil to the fire” with his statements and described the behavior as “irresponsible”.
“This is not how you build a firewall for the AfD, you tear it down.
A slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of votes against the AfD.”
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Lauterbach explained the planned reform as a reaction to changing circumstances and balancing the system as a whole.
“We, the traffic light, have only abolished the unfair overhang mandates that help the Union.
Each faction receives mandates that correspond to the percentage of the election,” said Lauterbach.
Stack-Zimmermann: So far, the Union has benefited from the many seats in parliament
Coalition colleague and European election top candidate Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) described Merz as a “dangerous demagogue who draws irresponsible comparisons and ignores the Federal Constitutional Court.” She warned that Merz would be held “responsible”.
She also published a graph on
According to Strack-Zimmermann, the illustration shows how the Union has benefited from the electoral system so far - and therefore also why Friedrich Merz is so strongly against the change.
“A rogue who thinks evil.”