The German Länder Electoral Systems: Overview and Reform Trends

Authors

  • Carlos Fernández Esquer Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/redc.117.04

Keywords:

Electoral systems, electoral reforms, Alemania, German Länder.

Abstract

The electoral system employed in the Bundestag elections is a reference model at international level. However, the literature has barely paid attention to the electoral systems used to elect the parliaments of the sixteen German Länder. While most or them are, as the federal one, mixed-member proportional electoral systems, there is a wide variety of peculiarities that draw a scenery of certain institutional creativity. This paper analyses the electoral reform processes that have been happening in regional electoral systems. Historical experience shows that the federal electoral system has been a model within Germany. Nevertheless, German Länder have also acted as institutional laboratories whose most successful products have been incorporated by other Länder, as well as by the federal electoral system.

Published

2019-12-20