Former Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble has sharply criticised the traffic light coalition's proposal for electoral reform. "This creates a system designed to deceive and disappoint the voter. It is suggested to him that he can elect his constituency candidates directly – in the end, the candidate may not even get into parliament," the CDU politician told Der Spiegel. Such a "misleading of the voters" is also a constitutional problem.

On Friday, the Bundestag will vote on the electoral reform. There are currently 736 deputies. The proposal of the SPD, Greens and FDP provides for the Bundestag to be permanently reduced to 630 seats from the next election. Among other things, there will be no more overhang and balancing mandates in the future. The so-called basic mandate clause is also to be dropped. It causes a party to enter the Bundestag even after its second vote result if it misses the five-percent hurdle but has won at least three direct mandates.

"Acts like a targeted attack on the CSU"

Schäuble said of the reform proposal: "This seems like a targeted attack on the CSU and thus against a party that has played a decisive role in shaping our democracy in parliament for 70 years."

For the reform, the Federal Elections Act must be amended. The traffic light is expected to decide this with its majority. Schäuble said that the Union would have to sue in a corresponding Bundestag decision. "This project must be stopped." CDU chief Friedrich Merz and CSU leader Markus Söder had recently threatened to sue the Federal Constitutional Court.

As President of the Bundestag, Schäuble himself had tried several times unsuccessfully to find a solution with the parliamentary groups for a reduction in the size of the Bundestag.

According to the Federal Government, the planned electoral reform would save taxpayers at least 340 million euros per legislative period. Depending on the outcome of the upcoming Bundestag election, the savings could be even higher, reported the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" and the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten", citing calculations by the Federation of Taxpayers.

Despite these predicted savings, the reform plans presented by the traffic light coalition are "unambitious," criticized taxpayers' association President Reiner Holznagel. Parliament would continue to be "far too large and would generate unnecessarily high costs". "A real electoral reform should end at 598 deputies, as provided for by the current electoral law," Holznagel said. For efficient parliamentary work, even 500 members are perfectly sufficient.