The first exit polls for the German federal elections are out
geteilt von: https://feddit.org/post/8357814
The left side of the graph shows the results, the right side shows possible coalitions
I mean, CDU/CSU and SPD have a majority with 45% of the votes, and 14% of the votes did not result in seats. That doesn't sound like an improvement to me. (Compared to the Netherlands - still beter than FPTP systems.)
I disagree, it's definitely an improvement to the infinite amount of parties we have.
I mean, you could just not vote for the fringe parties then?
(Oh, you already don't do that? So it's other people's votes you want to cancel? See what I mean - arguing for a threshold is essentially arguing for less democracy.)
It's not about cancelling anyone. It's about not having to wait 200-300 days to get a new government after every election.
I have often voted for very small parties and they never make it into the coalition. I really wouldn't mind if they didn't make it into Parliament either.
It's not like the BSW or FDP voters really lost that much - their parties would be doomed to be opposition anyway. Their voters knew that was a likely outcome based on the polls. And next election they might reach the threshold.
But the country as a whole gains efficiency.
The question then is: why did you vote for those very small parties? Why not just vote VVD? Then you're basically sure that they'll make the coalition, and your vote contributes to a nice and quick coalition process.
(That said, I also strongly disagree that being in opposition means you can't achieve anything. Look at the PVV, and how much they were able to make the other parties when they weren't even part of the government. Looks at what Union is planning to do now because of AfD, without AfD having to be part of the coalition.)
Edit: oh, and I forgot maybe the most convincing argument, for you: it doesn't work. Reasonable thresholds do not lead to fewer parties.
It's not about fewer parties in elections, it's about fewer parties in Parliament and quickly having a stable government.
Your link is written by an idiot.
In Germany you can still vote for a small party. If enough people do, the party gets 5%, or about 32 seats, which are enough MP's to actually participate in the process without getting burned out.
We could also start in the Netherlands with 2%, which is 3 MP's.
I think 4% (6 MP's) would be better though.
OK, if you're dismissing a source just because it doesn't fit your preconceived notions, even though it's written by someone who's literal job is to research the subject, and provides the numbers to back it up, then I'm not sure what we're doing here.
Some people suck at their job.
It is what it is.
In any case, Germany will probably have a government within a month, two if things get crazy.
And that's cold hard facts.