🇩🇪 German elections (federal & EU level)

[sirius3100]

I haven't looked at this thread in a whiiiiile--is SSW still on track to maybe get seats?

There haven't been any polls that mentioned them, but going by results from state elections I would say 1 seat is very likely (2 seats are unlikely, but not Impossible especially in a large Bundestag)

[sirius3100]

If Die Linke were to fail the threshold but get the 3 seats, the party would still face harder times. In that case, the party would only form a "Gruppe" instead of a "Fraktion", basically a parliamentary caucus with less rights and reduced funding, meaning not only lots of its MPs would become unemployed, but also large parts of the party's parliamentary staff.

If they miss the 5% just barely, Die Linke could still get 5% or more of the seats in the Bundestag and be considered a Fraktion.

Also this rule is only codified in the Geschäftsordnung (
"rules of procedure"?) of the Bundestag and could be changed quite easily if Die Linke would take part in a coalition for example.

Still wouldn't be good for Die Linke to miss the treshold though.

[sirius3100]

Hey German posters, is DW respected in Germany? Or is it seem like PBS in America? (Good, but nobody watches it)

I think that most Germans do not even know that DW exists

[sirius3100]

I think such a poll would be way more useful after the election.

I wouldn't know how to answer such a poll question myself.
My preferred coalition would be SPD + Grüne, but knowing that that is very unlikely I might be tempted to say SPD + Grüne + FDP.

[sirius3100]

What does the basic law dictate here? who gets the first shot to present a government for a confidence motion in the Bundestag?

Neither the basic law, nor any other law say anything about that.

German elections get more and more Americanized: In Berlin-Wilmersdorf there are still tons of voters waiting in lines outside the polling stations after numerous voting ballots got mixed up between polling locations.
Ballots that were unwittingly cast wrongly are nevertheless declared null and void. 🤬

I´m wondering if those unregularities might be enough for a repeat election in some precincts.

[sirius3100]

According to the Guardian Linke is still hurt by missing the 5% threhold.

However, failing to meet the 5% hurdle means the party will lose its status as a “Fraktion”, or parliamentary group, which in turn means fewer funds and less power.

Will this make a significant difference to them in terms of funding ? I know a lot of other left wing political parties depend on these funds due to their lack of large donors.

The Guardian is having a misconception. To form a Fraktion a party needs to have at least 5% of the seats in the Bundestag (https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/btgo_1980/__10.html) and Die Linke got that.

That rule could be changed by a simple majority of the Bundestag as it`s only written in the rules of procedure for the Bundestag, but I wouldn't expect any change here.
A change would also be challenged in the Constitutional Court, I`d guess. The court often used the 5% of seats rule as a basis for other rulings, despite it not being written in the Basic Law.