Steffen Bilger, the first parliamentary manager of the coalition’s faction, urged the coalition committee on Wednesday to reach a timely solution for reforming the electoral law. “The coalition must quickly arrive at a fair and practical arrangement” he told the magazine Stern. “If a candidate wins a constituency directly, they should also enter the Bundestag”. Bilger noted that about one million voters in Germany currently have no Bundestag representative because the mandate of their constituency winner has not been allocated, and no candidate from another party has stepped in via the party list. “This situation is unacceptable and harms democracy. The coalition should be united on this issue” he added.
Investigative reports by Stern revealed that the electoral‑law commission, comprising members from the CDU, CSU and SPD, has stalled after months of discussion and has been unable to present joint proposals. As a result, the commission’s meetings are effectively on hold, according to several written questions addressed to the federal government. Green politician Helge Limburg repeatedly asked for scheduled dates for upcoming sessions. In December, a government response said that “consent on the exact dates is still ongoing”; a February reply confirmed that “no dates were currently fixed”. An even more recent response from the Interior Ministry in early March reiterated that “no dates are fixed at the moment”. “This government commission has failed” the electoral‑law expert representing the Greens declared.