Why the German election is so complicated | DW News

The German electoral system is complicated. Really complicated. But: there are good reasons for that. Whether it's the location where Germans cast their vote, their love for paper trails or how they prevent election fraud - we explain everything that has to do with the German election.

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[tjmarx]

Title: "Why the German election is so complicated"

Narrator: "That's too complicated, we'll tell you about it another time"

[Debre.]

0:45 "Every vote counts the same."

Can't help but think this was meant to be a jab at the American electoral system lol.

[robins.]

I don't know, why this should be complicated.
It is easy, look:
1. You vote for a person from your region, to get in the Bundestag.
2. You vote a party.
3. Every party gets the same percentage of seats in the Bundestag as percentage of votes. (*)
Problem (example): party xy gets 13% of the votes but 14% of seats by the frist vote.
4. Party xy gets more seats than acually intended (Overhang)
5. To ensure the percentage, the other partys gets also more seats, so party xy has at the end 13%.

(*) Under 5% the party is out to prevent to many parties in the Bundestag. Coalitions would be difficult with too many parties.

[MrsKoldun]

It is really not complicated and actually pretty straightforward.

[avosadakian]

thanks for the explanation but i was hoping for a more detailed one. i guess we would be happy to watch a 12-15 min for an event of this importance.

[Johnnyybbee]

Except it kind of isn't though? This video weirdly makes the whole process look more complicated than it is while missing the key points, leaving you none the wiser.

[fordhouseb]

So the only really complicated part was the exact thing you decided not to explain?

[mika]

They tick two boxes because they want to
A: have local representatives and
B: have proportionality (if party gets 1/3 of vote, they get 1/3 of seats in parlament)
It's pretty good i think, ticking two boxes isn't much harder than ticking just one, and it prevents having a two-party system, spoiler votes and most of gerrymandering.

[serdaryatsumoto]

How is that complicated? It’s a regular election in a parliamentary democracy.

[Rnankn]

This isn’t complicated. And it is about the administration of the election, not the election itself which is about politics

[marcokrauss]

As a German it is not that complicated though ^^

[DarkAngel-osgs]

As a swiss citizen I have only one question: This is what you call complicated?

[nnewcoat]

To prevent someone with a funny mustache win the election again

[alexlaza]

"every vote counts the same" Really wish that was also true in the States.

[mamlechinookclan]

The German election system is quite good,
when you compare it to the UK or USA.

But of course it is not perfect it has some flaws as well.

[evandavid]

This is just an explanation of how an election works. And the only complicated bit you said was too complicated and then skipped.

[jebthegodemperor]

It's not that complicated. You vote for someone to represent your constituency, and then you vote for a party to represent you nationally. The goal is that every party gets a percentage of seats equal to its percentage of the vote. If a party gets more constituency seats than their percentage of the overall vote would indicate, additional seats are created to balance out the proportions. These seats are known as overhang seats.

[jacobzaranyika]

Now I know why Tina Turner gave up her American citizenship to become German.

It simply makes sense.

[SaiTeja-vqhq]

So.. a *CLICKBAIT* ? It should have been "How German elections work"..

[Glxbo]

Imagine beeing from USA and calling the german election complicated