The Hessian State Court has declared the local election reform of the black-red coalition in Hesse to be unconstitutional (Ref.: P.St. 3013 of 28.01.2026). The FDP, the smallest parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament, had filed an appeal against the change to the seat allocation procedure and has now been successful.

As the court explained, the legislator has the freedom to decide on a calculation method. However, it had to choose a method that preserved neutrality towards all parties and voter associations as far as possible. The court's press release states that it is therefore not permitted to introduce a procedure that is more distorting and therefore essentially outdated compared to a previously used procedure.

For many years, the Hare/Niemeyer method was used in the Hessian Local Elections Act after it replaced the d'Hondt method in 1980. In order to avoid fragmentation of municipal representation, it was decided in April 2025 to return to the d'Hondt method, which favours parties and voter associations with strong voting power. The Hare/Niemeyer method, on the other hand, is neutral towards all parties and results in a mathematically more accurate transfer of the vote ratio to the seat ratio, according to the State Court. The return to the d'Hondt seat allocation procedure violated the principle of electoral equality and the parties' constitutionally protected right to equal opportunities. It also noted that seat allocation procedures are not a suitable instrument for counteracting fragmentation in municipal representation.