Chancengleichheit oder Kooptation? Der Zugang kleiner Parteien zur Bundestagswahl

In: Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen: ZParl, Volume 41, Issue 1, p. 67-76

Abstract

In 2009 the Bundeswahlausschuss, a government committee responsible for approving the inclusion of small parties in the election process, decided to exclude several small parties from the poll. It was argued that they lacked importance & "seriousness." Whereas it is not true that this decision was the reason for the Organization of Security & Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to send a team to monitor the elections to the Bundestag in September 2009, it does give cause, together with the explanatory statement, for serious concern about the role of the Bundeswahlausschuss in the democratic process. This a fortiori holds true since the decision cannot be challenged before the German Constitutional Court. The structure of the commission, its competences, & its lack of democratic responsibility have to be reassessed according to the principles of constitutional law, especially the equality principle for political parties as laid down in Art. 21 (1) of the Grundgesetz. In this light, the German electoral law (Bundeswahlgesetz) fails to meet the democratic standards set up by the constitution. Adapted from the source document.