Tactical voting advised to maintain hopes of coalition

As election day draws near, Germany's political parties are advising supporters to vote tactically in order to exploit the intricacies of the country's complex electoral system. Members of the Bundestag are elected in two ways, so that half of its 656 members are directly elected in constituencies while the other half are chosen from party lists.

Each person has two votes, one for a constituency candidate and the other for one of the parties' state lists. The candidate who tops the poll in the constituency is elected and if two candidates hold the same number of votes, the returning officer draws lots to determine the winner.

The second votes for the party lists are counted and the seats are distributed proportionally to each party. The number of constituency seats won by a party is deducted from the number of list seats and the remainder are allocated to the candidates in the order they appear on their respective lists.

Seats are only allocated to parties that secure more than 5 per cent of the popular vote, a measure intended to reduce the influence of small parties. Candidates from small parties who are directly elected in their constituencies can also, of course, take their seats.

The ex-communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which commands the support of more than 20 per cent of voters in the east of the country, polled less than five per cent throughout Germany in 1994. But the party was able to take advantage of a clause in Germany's Electoral Law which allows parties which have at least three candidates elected directly to claim a number of Bundestag seats proportionate to their overall share of the vote.

Opinion polls suggest that the performance of the PDS could be crucial in determining the shape of Germany's next government. The Social Democrats and Greens believe that their only hope of forming a majority government lies in ensuring that the PDS does not enter the Bundestag.

This is partly because both parties have promised not to accept PDS votes in the election of a new chancellor.

On the government side, the Liberal Free Democrats (FDP) are struggling to win more than the 5 per cent of votes they need to return to parliament. Their core support is approximately 3 per cent, but the party hopes to persuade supporters of the Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, and his Christian Democrats to give their second votes to the FDP.

Officially, Dr Kohl's party insists that it has no votes to give away and that Christian Democrat supporters should give the party both votes.

But many local activists are encouraging voters to do what is necessary to ensure that the smaller party scrapes back into the Bundestag, keeping alive the hope that the present coalition can be restored to office.

Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) have increased their lead over Chancellor Kohl's ruling coalition, five days before election day, according to two new polls released yesterday. The opposition progress marks a reversal of a trend as Dr Kohl has been gaining in past weeks on the SPD.