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Title:
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REPRESENTATIVENESS OF GERMAN PARTIES AND COALITIONS IN THE 2013 BUNDESTAG ELECTION |
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Author(s):
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Andranik Tangian |
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ISBN:
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978-989-8533-32-6 |
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Editors:
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Piet Kommers and Pedro Isaías |
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Year:
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2015 |
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Edition:
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Single |
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Keywords:
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Mathematical theory of democracy; German parties; coalitions; Bundestag election 2013; indices of representativeness. |
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Type:
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Full Paper |
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First Page:
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183 |
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Last Page:
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190 |
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Language:
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English |
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Cover:
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Full Contents:
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click to dowload 
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Paper Abstract:
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The goal of the paper is empirically evaluating the representative capacity of German political parties and that of the 2013 Bundestag and the Bundestag coalitions. For this purpose, the positions of German parties, Bundestag and Bundestag coalitions on 36 policy issues are compared with the results of public opinion polls, and the indices of popularity (the average percentage of the population represented) and universality (frequency in representing a majority) are constructed. The 2013 election winner, the CDU/CSU, is shown to be the least representative among the 28 parties considered. The most representative among the four parties in the Bundestag (with >5% of the votes) is DIE LINKE, which received only 8.6% of the votes. The representativeness of the Bundestag is about 50%, not much surpassing the decision results when on every policy issue a coin is tossed. The current practice of parliament coalition formation aggravates the situation even further. The cause of such a low representativeness of both parties and coalitions is the irrationality of the voters themselves, who vote inconsistently with their own political profiles, disregard party manifestos, and are likely driven by political traditions, even if outdated, or by personal images of politicians. Finally, an alternative election method, which is shown to improve the representativeness of the Bundestag, is discussed. |
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