'The Constitutionality of Enacting a Three-Percent Electoral Threshold for Local Elections by Way of Constitutional Amendment, with Particular Regard to North Rhine-Westphalia'



The study critically examines the more recent decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court and the States Constitutional Courts subjecting the statutory threshold clauses for local elections to strict scrutiny and declaring them unconstitutional because they do not meet the very strict justification requirements. The study then explores the admissibility of enacting such electoral threshold clauses by way of constitutional amendment.