Germany: MPs adopt a law to reduce the number of elected members of the Bundestag
The Bundestag, the German parliament located in Berlin, January 27, 2023. AP - Bernd von Jutrczenka
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The Bundestag partly scuttled itself this morning, to reduce the number of its elected representatives. The members of the Bundestag adopted the text of reform of the electoral law, which will make it possible to contain the bloated growth in the number of deputies, by reducing the representation of the small parties. No democracy in the world has as many elected representatives as the 736 members of the Bundestag.
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With our correspondent in Berlin, Nathalie Versieux
In 20 years, the chamber has expanded by 133 members. And without reform of the electoral law, it would soon be necessary to push the walls, because growth could continue, as Germany applies to the letter the principle that every vote counts.
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This reform reduces the number of MPs from 736 today to 630 in the future. And it guarantees that there will be no further increase in the number of MEPs in the future, as was already predicted. There are calculations that estimate that we would have increased to more than 800 deputies in the next legislature, which would make the Bundestag by far the largest parliament in the world in relation to the population of the country," says political scientist Uwe Volkmann of the University of Frankfurt.
A disadvantage for small parties
736 MPs also means 5,600 parliamentary attachés and 3,000 civil servants, responsible for the proper functioning of the institution, all of whom are paid at taxpayers' expense. For decades, all parties have agreed that this unpopular inflation cannot continue. But until now, Angela Merkel's conservative party has opposed a reform that will disadvantage smaller parties, including the Bavarian conservatives and the far left.
This radical cut will save 340 million euros and will end more than one career in the six parties that now have the country.
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