Cannabis: who voted how in the Federal Council

On Friday, three states voted in the Bundesrat to refer the cannabis law to the mediation committee. Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saarland voted in favor of sending the law back to the compromise committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat for renegotiation. This would have been the only way to at least delay its entry into force.

All other federal states apart from Saxony abstained on the question of whether the mediation committee should be called upon. This allowed the law to pass the Bundesrat.

Normally, a vote is simply taken by a show of hands in the state chamber. However, Saxony had requested that each individual federal state be asked to vote.

Background: The government made up of the CDU, SPD and Greens in Dresden had not previously agreed on how to vote. This also applied to other states with coalitions of opponents and supporters of cannabis legalization. However, they agreed to abstain.

In contrast, Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) for Saxony wanted to make it clear publicly that he is strictly against cannabis legalization. He therefore voted in favor of appealing to the mediation committee, while his coalition partners from the SPD and the Greens voted to abstain. The inconsistent vote was deemed invalid by Bundesrat President Manuela Schwesig (SPD).

This is reminiscent of a spectacular vote in the Bundesrat exactly 22 years ago. In the vote on the then red-green immigration law on March 22, 2002, the Minister President of Brandenburg, Manfred Stolpe (SPD), voted yes, while his Interior Minister Jörg Schönbohm (CDU) voted no.

Stolpe's vote was considered a decision by the state. However, the Constitutional Court stopped the law nine months later and upheld the lawsuit brought by six states led by the CDU/CSU because the states had to vote uniformly.