possibility of vote splitting was introduced. In order to pass the electoral threshold, the party needed to receive a minimum of 5% of all second votes. Although the threshold was overruled for parties of national minorities, the Südschleswigsche Landesverband (SSW) was not able to re-enter into Parliament. The number of proportional seats increased from 400 to 484, while the 242 electoral districts were maintained. Consequently, the Bundestag is equally represented by seats voted directly as well as via second vote, disregarding additional second vote mandates that have resulted from overhang seats. The number of Berlin's parliament members increased from 19 to 22. In the case of a direct candidate withdrawing from the Bundestag, a new election in his voting district was no longer necessary. Instead, the candidate being next in the state's list of candidates ("Landesliste“) would substitute the candidate. Election of the 3rd German Bundestag (5 September 1957) – Today's electoral law is basically the same as it used to be in 1957. The two-stage distribution of seats connected with states' candidates lists was introduced, which brought along the problem of negative vote weight. At the same time, the disadvantage of smaller parties was clearly reduced with the D'Hondt method. The Grundmandatsklausel, which says that a party needs at least 5% of the second votes to get any seat in the Bundestag, was modified: from now on at least three direct mandates were needed to overcome this clause. Since the Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany on January 1, 1950, five electoral districts were added to the 242 already existing districts and the number of the mandates distributed by proportion was raised from 484 to 494. The absentee ballot was introduced as well. Election of the 5th German Bundestag (19 September 1965) – The electoral districts were rearranged, the number was increased from 247 to 248. Accordingly, the number of mandates distributed by proportion was raised from 494 to 496. Election of the 7th German Bundestag (19 November 1972) – By changing article 38 (2) of the Basic Law in 1970 the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 and the legal age to be eligible for election was adapted to the voting age, which was 21 at that time. Before that, one had to be 25 to stand for election. Election of the 8th German Bundestag (3 October 1976) – When the change of sec. 2