ABSTRACT
In the early years of the Federal Republic Bavaria was the only federal state to have a two-vote system for Land elections; nowadays ten of the 16 Lander give their voters two votes at a regional election, with Baden-Wurtternberg, Bremen, Hamburg, North-Rhine Westphalia, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein operating a one-vote system. Even federal states where the voter has only one vote in a regional election, like Baden-Wurttemberg, whose regional parliament contains 120 seats, operate with both constituencies (70) and list seats (50). At local level German citizens must have the right to elect the people who will represent them on their parish, town and district councils. Voters in local elections are less willing to forgive and forget the shortcomings of their elected representatives than is the case at a federal poll. In recent years the question of financing political parties and elections has moved centre-stage.
