Direktmandat

In Germany, a direktmandat (English: direct mandate) is a parliamentary seat that is won by the candidate who receives the most votes in a constituency in a legislative election.^[1] In the mixed-member proportional representation system used in Germany, a political party receives mandates on the state list for the number of seats it wins in the constituencies, so that direct mandates generally have no influence on the number of seats the parties have in parliament.^[2] In contrast, in a majority voting system such as in the United Kingdom or the United States, the number of seats the parties have depends exclusively on their success in the constituencies.