To fail FPD and BSW: The “five percent before twelve” hurdle

The five percent hurdle in the federal government has been in effect since 1953. At that time it was an expression of the fear of “Weimar conditions” that our country has not yet experienced, but we are now approaching with huge steps. However, this was not because of a large number of small parties in the Bundestag – that was the original reason for the introduction of the blocking clause, which had only been met in the first Bundestag election in 1949. But because the right -wing radicals have now made a jump that has been reminiscent of the NSDAP’s success series since September 1930. At the time, the end of the “grand coalition” under Chancellor Hermann Müller (SPD), which was desired by the old power elites, was preceded by the first presidential cabinet under Heinrich Brüning (center).