BSW lawsuits before the constitutional court: judgment shocked the political landscape!

BSW lawsuits before the constitutional court: judgment shocked the political landscape!

Karlsruhe, Deutschland - The Federal Constitutional Court today rejected two organizations of the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) party to the Bundestag voting law as inadmissible. These decisions show the challenges that new political forces face in German voting rights, especially if they do not exceed the five percent hurdle. On June 3, 2025, the court announced that BSW failed to provide sufficient evidence that its right to equal opportunities was violated, such as Tagesspiegel reported.

BSW, which was founded in January 2024 and consists of former members of the party DIE LINKE, had temporarily failed in the 21st German Bundestag with 4.97 percent of the second votes, which resulted in its non -participation in the distribution of seats. The party had raised allegations against the Bundestag because it had not introduced a legal remedy in order to demand a new counting of the votes under the five percent hurdle under the five percent hurdle. Another point was the demand for a change in the order of the parties on the ballot papers, which the court also considered insufficiently substantiated, as the press release of the Federal Constitutional Court explained.

Details about the organ layers

The final decision on the two organizations 2 BVE 6/25 and 2 BVE 9/25 states that the BSW has not proven that the legislator had a specific obligation to act. In particular, the allegation that the Bundestag had failed to advise or reject legal regulations on the new counting of votes. This rejection of applications for the new count, which were submitted by March 13, 2025, reflects the current difficulties that smaller parties in the political system look forward to.

In order to take into account the votes, the ballot papers are designed according to the number of second votes from the last Bundestag election. This regulation ensures that the larger, stronger parties in the Bundestag are present, which becomes a challenge for parties like the BSW that have to establish themselves.

Current developments in the right to vote

The right to vote itself changed in June 2023 with a reform that influenced the basic elements of the election process. The reform aimed at reducing the German Bundestag - now the legal rule size is set to 630 MPs, whereby the number of constituencies remains at 299. The voters continue to submit two votes, but overhang and compensation mandates are eliminated, which is intended to reduce the confusion in the electoral system, as is carried out on the Bundestagsite .

A significant innovation concerns the five percent hurdle. While this hurdle remains effective until the next election, it was modified: parties that receive the most first votes in fewer than three constituencies are excluded from the distribution of seats. This regulation could potentially increase the pressure on the BSW to act more strategy in future elections.