the Federal Constitutional Court declaring negative vote weight unconstitutional. History Election of the 1st German Bundestag (14 August 1949) – The election system which was valid for the election of the Bundestag in 1949 has been changed significantly in the following decades. Because the Parliamentary Council couldn't agree on a written formulation of the voting system in the Grundgesetz, the Federal Election Law was ratified by the heads of government of the German states. The right to vote was granted from the age of 21, the right to be elected from the age of 25. The constitutional number of representatives counted 400, plus possible overhang seats and 19 Berlin representatives. The federal territory was divided into 242 electoral districts, each one having one direct candidate being elected according to the relative majority voting, which is still valid. As a result of two CDU overhang seats, the Bundestag of 1949 consisted of 402 representatives. Each German state formed its own electoral district. Consequently, the number of representatives of a state was determined in advance (excluding overhang seats). Accordingly, the five-percent hurdle and the Grundmandat-clause (one direct mandate was sufficient to join the Bundestag) were valid merely in the federal states. A single-vote system was used. Using this single vote, the voter elected both a state party list and a direct candidate of the same party from his electoral district. Therefore, the voter did not have the possibility to give separate, independent votes for the person or the direct candidate and the party or the list. The voter of an independent direct candidate had in comparison with the two-vote system of today not the possibility to vote a party, with the risk that his vote in a case of unsuccessfulness of the candidate was lost. In case a direct candidate resigned from the Bundestag, the corresponding electoral district had to hold a reelection. This happened fourteen times the first being the 1950 Kulmbach by-election. The proportional mandates (Proporzmandate) were allocated using the D'Hondt method which disadvantages small parties. These parties were further disadvantaged because the seats were allocated on a per state basis. Election of the 2nd German Bundestag (6 September 1953) – In 1953 for the first time, a law (Bundeswahlgesetz) designed by the German Bundestag was the basis for the federal elections. This law contained some major alterations compared to the former election law: The dual-vote system with the respective