Dissolution of parliament

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dissolution of parliament means that parliament ends its work before the end of the legislative period and a new parliament is elected.

Authorized to dissolve parliament

Dissolution of parliament by the government

This section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Historically, the disposal Monarch on the exclusive right that Parliament be convened to adjourn or dissolve. This right was the expression of the position of the ruler ( monarchical principle ), but also an idea of ​​the separation of powers, since powers should be able to control each other. In this way the monarch could ask the people whether they supported the policy of the monarch (the monarchical government). The threat of dissolution alone often intimidated MPs enough to endorse government proposals. But it was just as possible that a new election might strengthen the opposition.

With the formation of governments, especially with their own responsibility, the government played an ever increasing role in the dissolution, either de facto or even constitutionally. In some republics, it is the president who decides to dissolve parliament, for example in France.

Dissolution of parliament by parliament

Self-dissolution rights of the respective parliament are also widespread. Examples are Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands.

Dissolution of parliament by referendum

A third variant is the removal of a parliament through a referendum . In the Swiss cantons of Bern , Uri , Schaffhausen , Solothurn and Thurgau, the recall of the cantonal parliament can be requested before the end of the legislative period. In the German federal states , the constitutions of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen and Rhineland-Palatinate provide for such a possibility. In the Weimar Republic in 1932, the Oldenburg State Parliament was dismissed in this way. Corresponding attempts in other countries failed, including the referendum in 1926 to dissolve the third Hessian state parliament and in 1931 the referendum to dissolve the Prussian state parliament .

Situation in individual countries

Germany

The following two paragraphs are not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

In most of the Länder of the German Confederation , state constitutions were established in accordance with Article 13 of the German Federal Act . These provided for the dissolution of parliament by the prince. In the German Empire, Article 24 of the constitution stipulated that a resolution by the Bundesrat and the consent of the Kaiser were necessary for the dissolution of the Reichstag . In practice, the decision came from the Chancellor.

In the Weimar Constitution , the Reich President could only dissolve the Reichstag under Article 25 , even if officially only once for the same reason. This restriction was insignificant in practice. During the Weimar period, every Reichstag was prematurely dissolved.

Federal Republic of Germany

When the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1948/1949, the Weimar regulation was viewed as harmful, as the dissolution of parliament had been made too easy. That is why the Bundestag cannot simply dissolve itself, nor can the Federal President or the government alone . The Bundestag can be dissolved in two cases:

  • Failure of the election of the Chancellor ( Article 63, Paragraph 4 of the Basic Law ): Within fourteen days, the Bundestag does not elect a Chancellor - neither the candidate proposed by the Federal President nor a candidate proposed by the Bundestag MP - with a majority of its members (so-called Chancellor majority ). In this case, another ballot must take place “immediately”, in which the person who receives the most votes is elected. If the person elected has this “Chancellor majority”, the Federal President must appoint him within seven days of the election. If the person elected does not achieve this majority, the Federal President has seven days to either appoint him or to dissolve the Bundestag.
  • Failure of the vote of confidence ( Art. 68 GG):

(1) If a request by the Federal Chancellor to express his confidence in him does not find the approval of the majority of the members of the Bundestag, the Federal President may dissolve the Bundestag within twenty-one days at the suggestion of the Federal Chancellor. The right to dissolution expires as soon as the Bundestag elects another Federal Chancellor with a majority of its members.

The first case has never occurred because the candidate for Chancellor presented by the Federal President was always elected with an absolute majority. The second case occurred in 1972, 1983 and 2005. Brandt , Kohl and Schröder used the instrument of the vote of confidence to dissolve the Bundestag. Parts of the government parliamentary groups did not vote in favor of the debate on trust, so that the vote of the opposition failed and the Federal President was able to dissolve the Bundestag. The Federal President followed the wishes of the Chancellor and parliamentary majority and dissolved the Bundestag.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, until 2011 , the Prime Minister had the right to ask the monarch for an early dissolution of parliament at any time . This allowed the government to schedule the election at what it thought most promising.

Since the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 came into force, the parliament's term of office has been five years. Early elections are only possible under tight conditions. On the one hand, the lower house has the right to dissolve itself, but an application must be approved by two thirds of all members of the lower house (including vacant seats). On the other hand, early elections are also held if the lower house of the government expresses its distrust and no confidence is expressed in a new government within two weeks.

Individual evidence

literature

  1. ↑ Oonagh Gay, Vaughne Miller, Jon Lunn, Arabella Thorp: Fixed term parliaments- early dissolution arrangements . Parliament and Constitution Center, June 2, 2010, Standard Note SN / PC / 05530 (English, parliament.uk [PDF; accessed October 22, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Hanns-Jürgen Wiegand: Direct Democratic Elements in German Constitutional History (=  Legal Contemporary History: General Series . No. 20 ). BWV, 2006, ISBN 978-3-8305-1210-3 , pp. 95–96 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  3. ↑ Horst Möller: The Weimar Republic: Democracy in the Crisis . Piper eBooks, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-492-99049-3 , section 9, p. 159 , urn : nbn: de: 101: 1-2018100403311451575582 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  4. ↑ Martin Fehndrich: election of the German Chancellor - Chancellor choice. In: Wahlrecht.de . March 14, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 .
  5. ^ Heinrich Oberreuter: Question of confidence . In: Uwe Andersen, Wichard Woyke (Ed.): Concise dictionary of the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany . 7th edition. Springer VS, Heidelberg ( bpb.de [accessed October 21, 2018]).
  6. Jump up ↑ Peter Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield : The role and powers of the Prime Minister. February 21, 2011, accessed October 21, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Petra Schleiter: Why the Fixed-term Parliaments Act should not be repealed. In: The Oxford University Politics Blog. October 21, 2014, accessed October 21, 2018 .

Laws

  1. ↑ Art. 12 of the French Constitution of October 4, 1958, as of October 21, 2018 (French)
  2. ↑ Article 29 of the Federal Constitutional Act , as of January 1, 2004
  3. ↑ Art. 57 Constitution of the Canton of Bern, as of March 11, 2015
  4. ↑ Art. 27 Constitution of the Canton of Uri, as of June 6, 2018
  5. ↑ Art. 26 Constitution of the Canton of Schaffhausen, as of March 2, 2011
  6. ↑ Art. 27 Constitution of the Canton of Solothurn, as of March 3, 2016
  7. ↑ § 25 Constitution of the Canton of Thurgau, as of December 5, 2017
  8. ↑ Art. 43 Constitution of the State of Baden-Württemberg, as of October 21, 2018
  9. ↑ Art. 18 Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria in the version of the announcement of December 15, 1998 (GVBl. P. 991, 992, BayRS 100-1-I), last amended by laws of November 11, 2013 (GVBl. P. 638 , 639, 640, 641, 642) has been changed
  10. ↑ Art. 62 Constitution of Berlin , as of October 21, 2018
  11. ↑ Art. 76 Constitution of the State of Brandenburg, as of October 21, 2018
  12. ↑ Art. 76 Constitution of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (PDF) as of October 21, 2018
  13. ↑ Art. 109 Constitution for Rhineland-Palatinate (PDF) as of October 21, 2018
  14. ↑ The teutsche Bundesacte of 8 Juny 1815 . In: Karl Heinrich Ludwig Pölitz (Hrsg.): The Constitutions of the European States since the last 25 years . tape 2 . FA Brockhaus, Leipzig / Altenburg 1817, p. 93-104 ( Wikisource ).
  15. ^ Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 . (English, gov.uk ).