German lawmakers on Thursday approved legislation designed to protect the country’s highest court against possible future manipulation or obstruction by authoritarian or extremist politicians.

Officials have cited experiences in Poland, Hungary and elsewhere as illustrating the need to bolster the Federal Constitutional Court. The measure was drawn up by the three parties in the governing coalition that collapsed last month and the mainstream conservative opposition.

In what is expected to be one of its last sessions before it is dissolved ahead of an early election in February, parliament’s lower house, or Bundestag, backed the plan by 600 votes to 69.

The legislation is set to anchor the court’s ground rules in the constitution. That means a two-thirds parliamentary majority would be required to change them in the future, rather than a simple majority. READ MORE