Municipal council decides to abolish the unequal partial election
Unequal district voting in Rastatt is a thing of the past. With a clear majority of 27 votes in favor, 17 against and two abstentions, the Rastatt municipal council voted on Monday, July 24, 2023, to abolish the previous electoral system for municipal elections. This had previously guaranteed the five districts of Rastatt a fixed number of seats on the municipal council. In future, this will now apply to local elections: Every vote has the same weight, regardless of whether it is cast by a resident of the core city or from one of the districts.
Due to the previous definition of seats for the districts, they are currently overrepresented in the municipal council. With only 0.7 seats per 1,000 inhabitants, the city center is underrepresented in the municipal council, while Rauental, for example, has an overrepresentation of 1.4 seats per 1,000 inhabitants. And this poses a legal problem for the next local elections. Because such inequalities would make the results contestable. This is illustrated by a ruling by the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg on the 2019 local elections in Tauberbischofsheim. However, the abolition of unequal local elections not only provides legal certainty, but also significantly simplifies the voting process. The complicated procedure had led to an excessive number of invalid ballot papers in the past. In addition, the size of the municipal council, which is set at 40 seats according to the main statutes, is now secured and it is no longer possible to have more seats due to overhang mandates.
Before the roll-call vote in the municipal council, there was a sometimes emotional debate. All political groups and factions emphasized in their speeches that they had not taken the decision lightly - and that the districts play and will play an important role in the municipal council, regardless of the electoral system.
The Green, AfD, FuR and FDP city councillors voted unanimously in favour of abolishing unequal local representation. Above all, they argued that only abolition would guarantee legal certainty. They were also critical of the old system when it was not the candidates' competence but their address that was decisive in the election. The representatives of the Free Voters voted unanimously in favor of retaining the old system. In the SPD and CDU parliamentary groups, there were both supporters and opponents of the abolition of the non-electoral system. The opponents declared their solidarity with the decisions of the local councillors, who - with the exception of the stalemate in Plittersdorf - had all voted in favour of retaining the unequal partial election. Lord Mayor Hans Jürgen Pütsch voted in favor of abolition because, as he said, "we must finally come to the point where equality counts in elections." Incidentally, experience in municipalities that have abolished unequal local representation shows that the districts are not represented with fewer, but often with more seats on the municipal council than before. However, this is based on the principle that every vote counts equally.
