120. The electoral system in Germany is a …

Answer options

1. Census suffrage (property-qualified franchise).
2. Three-class suffrage.
3. Majoritarian and proportional representation.
4. Universal male suffrage.

Explanation

Germany employs a mixed-member proportional system (“personalized proportional representation”): single-member district plurality (first vote) combined with proportional party lists (second vote), with the latter determining overall seat shares. Article 38(1) of the Basic Law—general, direct, free, equal, and secret—governs federal elections; the five-percent threshold and rules on overhang and compensatory seats secure parliamentary functionality. The Federal Constitutional Court’s landmark rulings (e.g., 2008, 2012) prohibited negative vote weight and compelled statutory revisions. Census and three-class suffrage are pre-democratic, estate-based models; universal male suffrage existed for the Imperial Reichstag, whereas today suffrage is universal and gender-neutral.