RETURN AND RE-ELECTION RATES IN GERMANY'S 16 GENERAL ELECTIONS

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German re-election rates are 68.3% to 71.5%. By contrast, the year 2000 USA Congressional elections featured a 98% re-election rate, with only 4 seats changing. So the effect German PR had at mitigating Gerrymandering (and other problems I'm sure) is apparently huge.

I Term II Returned MPsIII Re-elected MPsIV Seats V "Return" rate (IIt/IVt-1) VI "Re-election" rate (IIIt/IVt-1)
1st (1949-53)   410  
2nd (1953-57)26223550963.957.3
3rd (1957-61)35133651969.066.0
4th (1961-65)38636752174.470.7
5th (1965-69)37635051872.267.2
6th (1969-72)34733551867.064.7
7th (1972-76)36834651871.066.8
8th (1976-80)39238151875.773.6
9th (1980-83)37936751973.270.8
10th (1983-87)41841152080.579.2
11th (1987-90)39339051975.675.0
12th (1990-94)41735166280.367.6
13th (1994-98)45244367268.366.9
14th (1998-2002)47446766970.569.5
15th (2002-2005)39739060359.358.3
16th (2005-)43642661472.370.6
Average   71.5%68.3%

Sources:

This table is extracted from

Philip Manow: Electoral rules and legislative turnover: Evidence from Germany's mixed electoral system, West European Politics 30,1 (2007) 195-207.

Manow also cites the following:

Electoral rules and legislative turnover: Evidence from Germany's mixed electoral system Peter Schindler, 1998: Datenhandbuch zur Geschichte des Deutschen Bundestages, Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestages. 1998. Die Mitglieder des Deutschen Bundestages, 1.-13. Wahlperiode, 1-13. Bonn: Deutscher Bundestag.

Martin Feldkamp, 2005: Datenhandbuch zur Geschichte des Deutschen Bundestages, Ergänzungsband 1994-2003, Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Compare with USA: Senate and House.


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