In the last decades, with the increasing fragmentation of the electorate and the decreasing strength of the larger parties, direct seats were frequently won with an ever smaller proportion of the votes in the constituency. Direct seats now account for only 40% of the seats (instead of 50% in principle). As it appears from the explanatory report to the Bill, this increase is constant and the size of the Bundestag has accordingly been increased by almost one quarter (631 members in 2013, 709 in 2017, 736 in 2021, namely 123% of the size of 598 members provided in the law if there are no overhang mandates). In 2021, the number of overhang mandates was 34, which in turn resulted in 104 compensatory mandates. The continuous increase of overhang mandates implies that the allocation of seats at this stage does not correspond to the distribution of the second votes and therefore to the relative effective strength of the parties.