ASSEDEL
Amendments to the election law of the Federal State of Germany have been adopted on June 14, 2023. In a letter dated 3 March 2023, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr. Tiny Kox, requested an opinion on the draft law on the conformity of this law within the standards of the Council of Europe.
On May 23, 2023, a joint five-person delegation traveled to Berlin and met with political groups in the Bundestag and representatives of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Society.
As a result of the discussions with the German authorities, an opinion on this reform of the electoral law was published, in which the Venice Commission expressed a joint opinion with ODIHR. ASSEDEL has drafted a commentary on the Venice Commission’s report, based on international standards as well as German national law.
In this way, the reform of electoral law discussed in the report can be considered in greater depth. ASSEDEL considered that it was important in this work to provide examples of all aspects of the reform, as well as examples of similar reforms that have taken place in other countries in the past, in order to ensure that this issue can be treated from different perspectives.
In addition, other relevant points not mentioned in the Venice Commission’s report have also been addressed (e.g. proposed solutions to the disadvantages of the reform).
