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Five Percent Hurdle
The five percent hurdle (German language, German: Fünf Prozent Hürde), also called ''the five percent clause'', is the best known and most widely used electoral threshold for elections in Germany. Similar regulations exist in other countries with proportional representation. Background For the first Bundestag in 1949 West German federal election, 1949, the five percent hurdle applied separately to each States of Germany, federal state. On 25 June 1953, the Bundestag, German Bundestag passed a new federal election law, according to which it refers to the valid votes cast nationwide. In the 1990 German federal election, the five percent hurdle applied separately to Western Germany, West and East Germany as an exception due to the special situation immediately after German reunification. National minorities Some parties of national minorities are exempt from the five percent hurdle . For example, the South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW) in Schleswig-Holstein, which represe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sorbs
Sorbs (; ; ; ; ; also known as Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs and Wends) are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Germany, states of Saxony and Brandenburg. Sorbs traditionally speak the Sorbian languages (also known as "Wendish" and "Lusatian"), which are closely related to Czech language, Czech and Lechitic languages. Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian are officially recognized minority languages in Germany. In the Early Middle Ages, the Sorbs formed their own principality, which later shortly became part of the early West Slavic Samo's Empire and Great Moravia, as were ultimately conquered by the East Francia (Sorbian March) and Holy Roman Empire (Saxon Eastern March, Margravate of Meissen, March of Lusatia). From the High Middle Ages, they were ruled at various times by the closely related History of Poland during the Piast dynasty, Poles and Kingdom of Bohemia, Czechs, as well as the more distant Germa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frisians
The Frisians () are an ethnic group indigenous to the German Bight, coastal regions of the Netherlands, north-western Germany and southern Denmark. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen (province), Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia (which was a part of Denmark until 1864). The Frisian languages are spoken by more than 500,000 people; West Frisian language, West Frisian is officially recognised in the Netherlands (in Friesland) while North Frisian language, North Frisian and Saterland Frisian language, Saterland Frisian are recognised as regional languages in Germany. Name There are several theories about the origin of the name of the Frisians, which is derived from ''Frisii'' or ''Fresones'', names used by the Romans to describe a Germanic tribe that inhabited the same region but disappeared during the 5th century before the appearance of the Frisians. Most probably the name is derived ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stefan Seidler
Stefan Seidler (born 18 December 1979) is a Danish-German politician of the South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW), the party representing the interests of the Danish and Frisian minority populations in Germany. He was elected to the Bundestag from Schleswig-Holstein in the 2021 German federal election. His election represented the first time the SSW won a seat since 1949. The SSW last contested a federal election in the 1961 West German election. Early life and education Seidler was born in 1979 in Flensburg, West Germany, as the son of a Danish-born teacher and a timber salesman from Flensburg. After completing his secondary education at Duborg-Skolen, he studied at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark, where he obtained a master's degree in political science and a diploma in political communication. He is a member of the Danish Association of Lawyers and Economists. Political career Seidler has been politically active in both Denmark and Germany. In Aarhus, he wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2021 German Federal Election
The 2021 German federal election was held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, chose not to run again, marking the first time that an incumbent Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany did not seek re-election. With 25.7% of total votes, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) recorded their best result since 2005, and emerged as the largest party for the first time since 2002. The ruling CDU/CSU, which had led a grand coalition with the SPD since 2013, recorded their worst ever result with 24.1%, a significant decline from 32.9% in 2017. Alliance 90/The Greens achieved their best result in history at 14.7%, while the Free Democratic Party (FDP) made small gains and finished on 11.4%. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) fell from third to fifth place with 10.4%, a decline of 2.3 percentage points. The Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Minorities
The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority group is disempowered relative to the majority, and that characteristic lends itself to different applications of the term minority. In terms of sociology, economics, and politics, a demographic that takes up the smallest fraction of the population is not necessarily labelled the "minority" if it wields dominant power. In the academic context, the terms "minority" and "majority" are used in terms of hierarchical power structures. For example, in South Africa, during Apartheid, white Europeans held virtually all social, economic, and political power over black Africans. For this reason, black Africans are the "minority group", despite the fact that they outnumber white Europeans in South Africa. This is why academics more frequently use the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Direktmandat
In Germany, a direktmandat ( ''English'': direct mandate) is a parliamentary seat that is won by the candidate who receives the most votes in a constituency in a legislative election. In the mixed-member proportional representation system used in Germany, a political party receives mandates on the state list for the number of seats it wins in the constituencies, so that direct mandates generally have no influence on the number of seats the parties have in parliament. In contrast, in a majority voting system such as in the United Kingdom or the United States, the number of seats the parties have depends exclusively on their success in the constituencies. Germany Bundestag Under the federal election law, 299 members of the German Bundestag are elected directly in their Bundestag constituency. At least another 299 (299 plus any compensatory mandates for levelling purposes) are elected via their party's electoral list ( list candidate). The first vote and the second vote can b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Constitutional Court
The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-World War II republic, the court has been located in the city of Karlsruhe, which is also the seat of the Federal Court of Justice. The main task of the Federal Constitutional Court is judicial review, and it may declare legislation unconstitutional, thus rendering them ineffective. In this respect, it is similar to other supreme courts with judicial review powers, yet the court possesses a number of additional powers and is regarded as among the most interventionist and powerful national courts in the world. Unlike other supreme courts, the constitutional court is not an integral stage of the judicial or appeals process (aside from cases concerning constitutional or public international law), and does not serve as a regular appellate court ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wasted Vote
In electoral systems, a wasted vote is any vote cast that is not "used" to elect a winner, and so is not represented in the outcome. However, the term is vague and ill-defined, having been used to refer to a wide variety of unrelated concepts and metrics. The analysis depends on the way a "wasted vote" is defined. Wasted votes seldom affect each party equally irrespective of the system that produces them. More wasted votes for one party and fewer for another create a disproportionate chamber of elected members. Distortions produced by wasted votes work against the aim of fairly reflecting the wishes of the electorate. However, a system that produces wasted votes may prevent instability caused by many parties being elected to the legislature. Terminology There are at least two different types of wasted votes: Wasted votes and efficiency gap are defined pp. 850–852. * Lost votes are votes that make no impact on which candidates are elected. These votes do not actually elect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Vote
In Germany, the second vote ( ''German'': ''Zweitstimme'') is generally the decisive vote for the allocation of seats to the political parties. With it, the voter chooses a party whose candidates are put together on a state list. In addition to the second vote, the voter can cast a first vote ( ''German'': ''Erststimme''), with which he or she votes for a candidate in the constituency. The validity of the second vote remains unaffected by any invalidity of the first voteSection 39of the Federal Election Law). In some German state electoral systems, the vote corresponding to the second vote is called the list vote (Saxony) or the state vote (Thuringia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse). It has been proposed that the second vote in the federal election be renamed the list vote. Background The two-vote system has existed in Germany since 1953. The change to personalized proportional representation with first and second votes took place together with the introduction of the nationwide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the lower house of the German federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany, the other being the Bundesrat. It is thus the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag. The members of the Bundestag are representatives of the German people as a whole, are not bound by any orders or instructions and are only accountable to their conscience. As of the current 21st legislative period, the Bundestag has a fixed number of 630 members. The Bundestag is elected every four years by German citizens aged 18 and older. Elections use a mixed-member proportional representation system which combines First-past-the-post voting for constituency-seats with proportional representation to ensure its composition mirrors the national popular vo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. In rural areas, Northern Low Saxon and Saterland Frisian language, Saterland Frisian are still spoken, though by declining numbers of people. Lower Saxony borders on (from north and clockwise) the North Sea, the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, , Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Netherlands. Furthermore, the Bremen (state), state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony, one being the city of Bremen, the other its seaport, Bremerhaven (which is a semi-exclave, as it has a coastline). Lower Saxony thus borders more neighbours than any other single '. The state's largest cities are the state capital Hanover, Braunschweig (Brunswick), Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
