On March 27, the voters of Baden-Wuerttemberg state in southwest Germany cast ballots for state office. The Green Party placed second, with 24.2% of the vote. Because the Social Democratic Party received 23.1%, there is likely to be a coalition between those two parties. Because the Greens received more votes than the Social Democrats, if normal rules are followed, a Green Party member will become premier of the state, which has a greater population than Belgium and Luxembourg combined.
The Christian Democratic Union received 39%, and its allies the Free Democrats received 5.3%. See this story.
P.R. in German States = Good
Parliamentary stuff = party hack machinations = SUPER-BAD
P.R. legislative — and separate App.V. elections for executive/judicial officers.
Too difficult for even German folks to understand ???
NO, this is very incorrect. First, it will be a coalition to rule the province of Baden-Württemberg.
A coaltion must come over 48.6% of the vote to be able to rule.
The SPD and the GREENS just miss the mark.
CDU cannot rule alone. It will have to make a coalition with the GREENS. But the party with the highest percentage, in this case the CDU, gets to pick Ministerpräsident, the german equivalent of a governor of the province.
This is indeed the best showing the greens have ever had in a german province, but not enough to be the top dog.
Responsible 3rd parties in the United States could accomplish the same thing, if they would get this nonesense out of their mind, that it must be “our party and not other party” winning and governing.
“Fusion” or “co-nominating” of candidates by 2 or more parties – 1 major and 1 of a 3rd party – could result in a sharing of government similar to what the Greens may have accomplished in the province of Baden-Württemberg.
The Greens in this German province are showing some political savvy. Why can’t 3rd parties in the United States do the same thing?
“The Greens in this German province are showing some political savvy. Why can’t 3rd parties in the United States do the same thing?”
Ballot access restrictions; lack of fusion in many states and total mainstream media blackout come to mind.
If you look at NY State I don’t see how you can say anything good about fusion. You’ll just have to bite the bullet and get PR adopted somewhere.
It would probably have to be an initiative -referendum state since the duopolists in every state legislature like the system that elected them just fine. Also,in some states with strong home rule provisions it might be possible to enact PR at the local level.Remember, it’s not like the two major parties are all that popular.
Germany elects via list PR with a 5% threshold required
to get seats.
Because of the 5% threshold SPD-Greens get a majority of the seats with a minority of the votes.
http://hailtoyou.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/greens-win-in-germany/#more-1080
(…)
“Only parties getting over 5% of votes get seats, so the Greens’ actually have 26.1% of seats. SPD took 25.4% of seats. Greens+SPD will now form a state government, as they are a new slim majority. But with Greens as the senior partner! Unprecedented. I believe this will be the first time the Greens will lead a government in Germany.”
(…)
here’s the whole list with the tinier parties lumped together as “Other”:
http://hailtoyou.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/greens-win-in-germany/#more-1080
(…)
Election Results, Baden-Wuerttemberg
Party 2011 2006
CDU (center-right) 39.0% 44.2% -5.2%
Greens 24.2% 11.7% +12.5%
SPD (center-left) 23.1% 25.2% -2.1%
FDP (free-marketeer) 5.3% 10.7% -5.4%
Voelkisch parties 2.5% 3.9% -1.4%
Linke (NeoCommunist) 2.8% 3.1% -0.3%
Other 3.0% 1.2% +1.8%
To reply # 2,
The coalition between the CDU and the Greens is simply not in the works:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0328/How-Germany-s-Greens-rose-from-radical-fringe-to-ruling-power
The Greens and SPD will have a combined total of 71 seats, which is more than the combined CDU and FDP total (67 seats). 71 out of 138 seats comes out to 51.45%. Therefore the Green and SPD coalition will have a majority of 2 seats.
The article states that the opposition to nuclear played to the Greens’ advantage. It is also the case, when looking at the polls, that the Greens were performing well, even before the tragic events in Japan.
http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/landtage/baden-wuerttemberg.htm
100 percent P.R.
Total Votes / Total Seats = EQUAL votes needed for each seat winner.
NO wasted votes — i.e. the 8.3 percent losers in # 7 — i.e. the balance of power.
i.e. YES or NO majority on each bill.
MORE or LESS government.
Thanks to all the commenters above for adding very interesting ideas and data relating to this post.
The only other party to increase its vote share besides the Greens is the Pirate Party which went to 2.1% from nothing in the previous election.