Here you find calculation examples for the conversion of the number of votes to the number of seats at elections to the Bundestag and elections to the Federal State Parliament.
| divided | Party A | Party B | Party C |
|---|---|---|---|
| by 1 | 6100 1 | 5000 2 | 900 7 |
| by 3 | 2033 3 | 1667 4 | 300 |
| by 5 | 1220 5 | 1000 6 | 180 |
| by 7 | 871 8 | 714 9 | 129 |
| by 9 | 678 10 | 556 | 100 |
Party A gets 5 seats, party B gets 4 seats, party C gets 1 seat.
Formula:
Party A: 10 * 6100 / 12000 = 5.08
Party B: 10 * 5000 / 12000 = 4.17
Party C: 10 * 900 / 12000 = 0.75
First party A gets 5 seats (because of the whole numbers), party B gets 4 seats and party C gets no seat. Then party C gets the one missing seat, because 75 is the highest number fraction.
| divided | Party A | Party B | Party C |
|---|---|---|---|
| by 1 | 6100 1 | 5000 2 | 900 |
| by 2 | 3050 3 | 2500 4 | 450 |
| by 3 | 2033 5 | 1667 6 | 300 |
| by 4 | 1525 7 | 1250 8 | 225 |
| by 5 | 1220 9 | 1000 | 180 |
| by 6 | 1017 10 | 833 | 150 |
Party A gets 6 seats, party B gets 4 seats, party C gets no seat.
The number of seats each party get correspond with the number of secondary votes. So party A gets 134 seats. 56 of the 134 seats are for the direct mandates and 78 for the candidates of the national list.
Party B gets 15 seats. Basically party B gets 13 seats according to the secondary votes, but the number of direct mandates is higher, so the surplus seats increase the number of seats as overhang mandates. Only the direct mandates occupied these 15 seats.