Britain’s electoral system is the first-past-the-post system where the country gets split un into electoral constituencies. The winner is based on the number of votes cast by voters and the candidate who wins most of the voters’ votes. Critics of the system indicate that Britain’s electoral system gives big parties an advantage, especially in areas with concentrated regional support compared to the smaller parties. However, the electoral system in Germany is different compared to that of Britain. In Germany, the share of the total votes received by a certain party has a large impact on the number of seats in the country’s parliament. While in Britain, a candidate from a dominant party might win the election, although representing the beliefs of a minority group, this may not be the case in Germany. Germany’s electoral system is known as the Mixed Member Proportional Representation, where parties’ seats in parliament are determined by how votes voted during an election. Unlike in the United Kingdom (UK), the citizens of German have two votes. The first vote in Germany is used to determine the 299 members of the country’s legislatures. Just like in the UK, the winning candidates in Germany are determined by those who win the majority votes in their representative districts. The second vote cast by citizens is for a party and not a single candidate. In the second voting process, all the states in Germany must send a team of MPs based on the vote share won. The second vote is used to determine the seat percentage for each party in Germany’s Bundestag. As a result, apart from the winning candidate, parties also send a team of MPs to parliament based on the number of the vote share they have won in the elections. The second vote is crucial as it determines the seat percentage that a party will get in parliament. Party fragmentation and misrepresentation of small parties are prevented by parties expected to obtain over five percent of the vote or three directly elected local MPs.
Germany’s mixed electoral system gives more representation to diverse groups than the electoral system of Britain. Germany’s electoral system incorporates both proportionality and fairness through the party-list system. As a result, Germany’s parliament reflects primarily reflects citizen’s political views rather than a party’s political views as in Britain. German’s electoral system achieves the goal by maintaining the personalized and local link typical of the first-past-the-post system of Britain while considering how the citizens view to align with the party’s view. The wasted votes in Britain’s electoral system reduce its ability to represent diverse groups, unlike in Germany, which is usually considered in the second vote phase. Unlike in Britain, voters in Germany cast a vote for the person they will like to be in charge of their constituency, and the vote for the overall party they believe represents their political views. As a result, a party’s failure to represent most of the citizen’s political views can lead to the elimination of a winning candidate in the election resulting in a representation of diverse groups and better policymaking processes.
Although Germany’s electoral system also has its flaws, it tries to make policymaking better rather than worsening it. The country’s system seems to encourage consensus. As a result, dominant and major rivalry parties may be forced to form governments and agree on major decisions during the policymaking process. Also, Germany’s electoral system promotes Federal democracy and a democratic democracy. The voting process and parliament powers are controlled by a framework of a rule that determines where powers will lie and how people are elected in parliament to ensure that they represent the country’s political views. The two voting processes in Germany’s electoral system ensure that the country’s parties receive approximately as many seats as their percentage of the vote.