Composition of the German Bundestag and Principles of Franchise
(1) The German Bundestag consists of 630 members. They are elected in a general, direct, free, equal and secret ballot by the Germans eligible to vote.
(2) The principles of proportional representation apply in elections to the German Bundestag. Each voter has two votes, a first vote to be cast in an election based on constituency nominations and a second vote to be cast in an election based on Land lists where the parties admitted to participate in the election name their candidates.
(3) When the seats going to the Land lists are allocated to individual candidates, priority is given, subject to the provisions of section 6, to candidates determined in 299 constituencies in an election based on constituency nominations. In each Land, each party gets as many seats for those of its candidates who have won the most first votes in the constituencies of the Land as are backed by the number of second votes cast for that party (seat allocation based on second votes).
(4) Candidates who have not been nominated by a party may stand for election in the constituencies in accordance with the requirements resulting from this Act.