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German Bundestag

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German Bundestag

Deutscher Bundestag
21st Bundestag
Coat of arms or logo
History
Established7 September 1949; 76 years ago (1949-09-07)
Preceded byReichstag (Nazi Germany, 1933–1945)
Leadership
Julia Klöckner, CDU
since 25 March 2025
Josephine Ortleb, SPD
since 25 March 2025
Andrea Lindholz, CDU/CSU
since 25 March 2025
Bodo Ramelow, The Left
since 25 March 2025
President by right of age
Gregor Gysi, The Left
since 25 March 2025
Friedrich Merz, CDU/CSU
since 6 May 2025
Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, AfD
since 6 May 2025
Structure
Seats630
Political groups
Government (328)
  •   Union (208)
  •   SPD (120)

Opposition (302)

Elections
Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP)
Last election
23 February 2025
Next election
On or before 25 March 2029
Meeting place
Reichstag building
Mitte, Berlin, Germany
Website
www.bundestag.de/en
Rules
Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag and Mediation Committee (English)
The plenary of the 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.

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. After the 2025 election, this was reduced to 630. The next election is expected in 2029.

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.

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  1. 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

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Other websites

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Media related to Bundestag at Wikimedia Commons