Pay attention to who is casting the votes.
Before the new Bundestag is constituted, eligible citizens cast their ballots. The results are used to allocate seats under electoral law. This is where the threshold operates.
Later, members vote in parliament, for example on laws. Those decisions involve parliamentary majorities and procedural rules. An attendance check counts members present; the five-percent threshold instead measures a share of election results. These are different quantities.
The other three answers
Three answers move the rule into a sitting of the Bundestag or Bundesrat.
Voting rule in the Bundestag for small parties
The threshold does not govern how small parties vote within the Bundestag. It affects which parties participate in proportional seat allocation.
Attendance check in the Bundestag for votes
An attendance check identifies who is present at a sitting. Five percent here refers to electoral votes, not Bundestag members present.
Attendance check in the Bundesrat for votes
The Bundesrat has its own decision-making rules. Attendance there is not governed by the Bundestag election threshold.
The exam definition is deliberately brief.
The general threshold has exceptions: national-minority parties are exempt. Under the Constitutional Court’s continuing transitional rule, parties below five percent are also considered if their candidates receive the most first votes in at least three constituencies.
This question explains the term in German Bundestag electoral law. It does not establish one five-percent rule for every parliament and every election. Rules at other levels must be checked separately.
Section 4 · Federal Elections Act ↗Electoral votes lead to seats; attendance counts people in the room.
Look for the minimum share of electoral votes. Eliminate both attendance checks and the internal voting rule.
Three words for this question
- die Anwesenheitattendance / presence
- A person being present at a place or sitting.
- die Sitzverteilungallocation of seats
- The allocation of parliamentary seats under electoral rules.
- die Bezugsgrößedenominator / reference quantity
- The quantity against which a proportion is measured.