German Bundestag
The German Bundestag (commonly referred to as Bundestag) is the legislature of Germany. It meets in Berlin, in the Reichstag building, which was specially rebuilt ready for the Bundestag to move from Bonn.
German Bundestag Deutscher Bundestag | |
|---|---|
| 20th Bundestag | |
 | |
| History | |
| Established | 7 September 1949 |
| Preceded by | Reichstag (Nazi Germany, 1933–1945) |
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 736[1] |
 | |
Political groups | Government (416)
Opposition (320) |
| Elections | |
| Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) | |
Last election | 26 September 2021 |
Next election | On or before 26 October 2025 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Reichstag building Mitte, Berlin, Germany | |
| Website | |
| www | |
| Rules | |
| Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag and Mediation Committee (English) | |
The Bundestag has at least 598 members. Every 4 years the German people vote. After the 2017 election there were 709 members. In the election of 26 September 2021, 736 members were assigned - the base 598 seats plus 138 overhang and leveling seats. The next elections are in 2025.
A party gets seats when it gets at least 5% of the votes or 3 direct mandates. Every voter has two votes, one for a person and one for a party. 299 members each represent a constituency, just as in the British House of Commons or the US House of Representatives. The other half are elected from a party list in each Land. The total number of seats a party gets depends on the number of the second "party votes" it gets.
But if a party wins more constituency seats than its share of the party votes, then it keeps those extra seats. These extra seats, or extra mandates, are the reason the Bundestag sometimes has more than 598 members. If a party gets extra mandates, the other parties get some extra seats too to make sure every party gets exactly its share of party seats. This system of giving extra mandates was changed in 2013. Before 2013, if a party won extra mandates, then it got to put more members in the Bundestag, which gave the party more influence over the Bundestag than it won in the elections.
The Bundestag president is named Bärbel Bas. She oversees the sessions of the body.
German Bundestag Media
The German Unity Flag is a national memorial to German reunification that was raised on 3 October 1990; it waves in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin, seat of the Bundestag.
The Bundestag within the political system of Germany
Bundestag ballot from the 2005 election in the Würzburg district. The column for the constituency vote (with the name, occupation, and address of each candidate) is on the left in black print; the column for the party list vote (showing top five list candidates in the state) is on the right in blue print.
Composition of German Bundestag after the 2021 election:* The Left: 39 seats
The Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, one of the official buildings of the complex, housing the parliamentary library
Related pages
- Politics of Germany#Bundestag (election results of 2013)
- German federal election, 2017
Notes
- ↑ The Rules of Procedure of the Bundestag (German: Geschäftsordnung) allocate one Vice-President to each political group (Fraktion). However, each candidate must still be elected by a parliamentary majority. Due to the AfD's rejection by other parties, no AfD candidate has reached such a majority.
- ↑ Though the by-laws of the Bundestag do not mention such a position, the leader of the largest opposition Fraktion is called leader of the opposition by convention.
References
- ↑ "Sitzverteilung des 20. Deutschen Bundestages" (in Deutsch). Deutscher Bundestag. 30 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
Other websites
Media related to Bundestag at Wikimedia Commons
