Even after the Free Voters’ defeat in the Brandenburg election, federal chairman Hubert Aiwanger still believes that a place in the Bundestag is realistic. “We are now specifically aiming for three direct mandates for the Bundestag election,” Aiwanger told the German Press Agency in Munich on Monday. Because the basic mandate clause is still in force, a party can enter parliament by either clearing the five percent hurdle or receiving three direct mandates.
In the state election in Brandenburg on Sunday, the Free Voters missed out on re-entering the state parliament with only 2.6 percent of the vote nationwide – five years ago they had received five percent of the vote. In addition, this time they did not win a single direct mandate that would have helped them to re-enter the state parliament in the state.
Top candidate loses direct mandate
After the Free Voters’ top candidate, Péter Vida, had won his constituency directly in the 2019 state election, he narrowly lost the direct mandate to the AfD on Sunday. It was annoying that it was only a small margin, said Aiwanger – but now brought Vida’s candidacy at the federal level into play. “Perhaps this will give us the chance to win the direct mandate to the Bundestag with Mr. Vida,” said Aiwanger.
In previous federal elections, the Free Voters had always failed to clear the five percent hurdle – their best result to date was 2.4 percent in the 2021 election.
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