State parliament

Total number of representatives in the German state parliaments
CDU			488 (15)
SPD			465 (16)
Green			264 (14)
AfD			253 (16)
left			146 (10)
FDP			112 (11)
CSU			85 0(1)
FW			028 0(2)
BVB / FW			005 0(1)
SSW			003 0(1)
Otherwise. *			018 0(8)
A total of 1,868 mandates, the number of state parliaments in brackets. As of July 30, 2020 * independent 18, BIW 1

Total share of votes of the parties in the last state parliament elections

Status: February 23, 2020

 %

30th

20th

10

0

24.0

22.1

13.7

12.3

7.7

6.6

6.2

2.7

4.7

CDU

SPD

Green

AfD

FDP

left

CSU

FW

Otherwise.

State parliament is the collective term for the parliaments of the federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany . In the Basic Law ( Art. 28 , Art. 54 Para. 3 GG), the state parliaments are generally referred to as the representative bodies of the states .

In the territorial states, the state parliament is called the state parliament . The composition of the state parliaments is determined in state elections, the electoral period is five years (in the city state of Bremen only four years). In the city-states there are other names instead of the state parliament : House of Representatives in Berlin and Citizenship in Bremen and Hamburg . The elected member of a state parliament is referred to as a member of the state parliament (MdL) or member of the House of Representatives (MdA), the Bremen citizenship (MdBB) or the Hamburg citizenship (MdHB).

Hierarchy and tasks

Constitutionally , the Federal Republic of Germany is a federation of the German states to which they have voluntarily transferred competences . The state parliaments are therefore an expression of German federalism and preserve the tradition of regional legislative competence. However, a state parliament is not allowed to intervene in federal legislation.

The main tasks of the state parliament are the control of the state government , the enactment of state laws and the structuring and approval of the state budget.

State parliaments in Germany

state	Popular representation	Last choice	Legislative period	Next election (expected)
State of Baden-Württemberg	State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg	March 13, 2016	16.	March 14, 2021
Free State of Bavaria	Bavarian State Parliament	October 14, 2018	18th	Autumn 2023
State of Berlin	Berlin House of Representatives	18th September 2016	17th	3rd quarter 2021
country Brandenburg	Brandenburg State Parliament	1st September 2019	06th	3rd quarter 2024
Free Hanseatic City of Bremen	Bremen citizenship	May 26, 2019	20th	2nd quarter 2023
Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg	Hamburg citizenship	February 23, 2020	21st	Spring 2025
State of Hesse	Hessian state parliament	October 28, 2018	20th	Autumn 2023
State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	State Parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	4th September 2016	06th	3rd quarter 2021
State of Lower Saxony	Lower Saxony State Parliament	15th October 2017	17th	Autumn 2022
State of North Rhine-Westphalia	State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia	May 14, 2017	17th	2nd quarter 2022
State of Rhineland-Palatinate	Landtag Rhineland-Palatinate	March 13, 2016	17th	March 14, 2021
Saarland	State Parliament of the Saarland	March 26, 2017	16.	1st quarter 2022
Free State of Saxony	Saxon State Parliament	1st September 2019	06th	3rd quarter 2024
State of Saxony-Anhalt	State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt	March 13, 2016	07th	June 6, 2021
State of Schleswig-Holstein	Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament	May 7, 2017	19th	2nd quarter 2022
Free State of Thuringia	Thuringian Parliament	October 27, 2019	07th	April 25, 2021

The length of a legislative period is four years in Bremen and five years in all other state parliaments.

elections

Election mode

The electoral mode depends on the country in question. However, all state election laws (essentially) provide for a proportional representation system.

The state of Bremen is divided into two elective areas (municipalities of Bremen and Bremerhaven ), to which the five percent hurdle applies separately and between which there is no equalization. In Bavaria each administrative district forms an electoral district, which in turn is divided into electoral districts; the results of the constituencies are not offset against each other, even if the five percent hurdle is calculated nationwide.

Each country is divided into constituencies (not identical to the rural districts ), and these constituencies in turn are divided into electoral districts , each with a polling station .

With the exception of Bremen, Hamburg and Saarland, a member of the state parliament is directly elected in each constituency . In addition, there is also the state list of each party, from which MPs enter the state parliament if a party is more involved in the overall percentage than is already reflected in the direct mandates it has won (see also: Overhang and compensation mandate ). In Berlin, each party can decide whether to run with a state list or with district lists.

In the state elections in Baden-Württemberg, the voter decides with one vote for both a candidate and his state list, whereby the list is formed according to the voting results of the candidates in their constituencies. In Saarland there is only a list selection. In the other federal states, as in the Bundestag election, there are two separate votes for direct mandate and state list, with the first and second votes being added together to calculate the distribution of seats in Bavaria.

A referendum on June 14, 2004 in Hamburg led to the replacement of pure list voting by a new voting system. It was used for the first time in the mayor elections on February 24, 2008, gives voters more influence on the composition of the citizenry and includes restricted open lists in multi-mandate constituencies.

The electoral law in Bremen provides for the two electoral areas Bremen and Bremerhaven each to distribute five votes to the lists for the electoral area or specific candidates.

Election modes in the German states

country	Electoral term in years	Voting age active / passive	Electoral system	List form	Number of votes	Mandates (of which in constituencies)	Threshold clause	Basic mandate clause	Compensation mandates	Seat allocation process
Baden-Württemberg	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	losing constituency candidates	01	120 (70)	nationwide	No	separated by administrative district	Sainte-Laguë
Bavaria	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	open	02	180 (90)	nationwide	No	separated by administrative district	Hare / Niemeyer
Berlin	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	130 (78)	nationwide including invalid	a mandate	Yes	Hare / Niemeyer
Brandenburg	5	16 /18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	088 (44)	nationwide; not for Sorbs	a mandate	Yes	Hare / Niemeyer
Free Hanseatic City of Bremen	4th	16 /18	Proportional representation m. open lists	open	05	083 (0)	separately in Bremen and Bremerhaven	-	-	Sainte-Laguë
Hamburg	5	16 /18	Proportional representation m. open lists	open	10	121 (71)	nationwide	No	Yes	Sainte-Laguë
Hesse	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	110 (55)	nationwide	No	Yes	Hare / Niemeyer
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	071 (36)	nationwide	No	Yes	Hare / Niemeyer
Lower Saxony	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	135 (87)	nationwide	No	Yes	d'Hondt
North Rhine-Westphalia	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	181 (128)	nationwide	No	Yes	Sainte-Laguë
Rhineland-Palatinate	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	101 (51)	nationwide	No	Yes	Sainte-Laguë
Saarland	5	18/18	Proportional representation	closed	01	051 (0)	nationwide	-	-	d'Hondt
Saxony	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	120 (60)	nationwide	two mandates	Yes	d'Hondt
Saxony-Anhalt	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	091 (45)	nationwide	No	Yes	Hare / Niemeyer
Schleswig-Holstein	5	16 /18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	069 (35)	nationwide; not for SSW	a mandate	Yes	Sainte-Laguë
Thuringia	5	18/18	Personalized proportional representation	closed	02	088 (44)	nationwide	No	Yes	Hare / Niemeyer

Election results

→ Main article : Results of the state elections in the Federal Republic of Germany

Strongest and second largest parties in the state parliaments. The color of the country corresponds to the color of the strongest party in the last election, the color of the point of the second strongest (as of January 1, 2020).

CDU CSU SPD

Green left AfD

Last state election results

All results that exceed 1 percent are listed, as well as all results from parties that achieved at least 0.5 percent on a national average or 1 percent in at least four countries. Election results that led to parliamentary entry are in bold.

state	last choice	CDU / CSU a	SPD	Green	AfD	FDP	left	Free voters / BVB / FW b	Pirates	POLITICAL PARTY	Animal protection party	other parties d	otherwise.
Baden-Württemberg	2016	27.0	12.7	30.3	15.1	08.3	02.9	00.1	0.4	0.3	0.3	ALFA 1.0	1.9
Bavaria	2018	a37.2 a	09.7	17.6	10.2	05.1	03.2	11.6	0.4	0.4	0.3	BP 1.7; ÖDP 1.6	1.3
Berlin	2016	17.6	21.6	15.2	14.2	06.7	15.6	-	1.7	2.0	1.9	Gray 1.1	2.4
Brandenburg	2019	15.6	26.2	10.8	23.5	04.1	10.7	0 b5.0 b	0.7	-	2.6	-	0.8
Free Hanseatic City of Bremen	2019	26.7	24.9	17.4	06.1	05.9	11.3	01.0	1.0	1.7	-	BIW 2.4	1.6
Hamburg	2020 *	11.2	39.2	24.2	05.3	05.0	09.1	00.6	0.5	1.4	0.7	Volts 1.3	1.6
Hesse	2018	27.0	19.8	19.8	13.1	07.5	06.3	03.0	0.4	0.6	1.0	-	1.5
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	2016	19.0	30.6	04.8	20.8	03.0	13.2	00.6	0.5	0.6	1.2	NPD 3.0	3.3
Lower Saxony	2017	33.6	36.9	08.7	06.2	07.5	04.6	00.3	0.2	0.6	0.7	-	1.0
North Rhine-Westphalia	2017	33.0	31.2	06.4	07.4	12.6	04.9	00.4	1.0	0.6	-	-	3.1
Rhineland-Palatinate	2016	31.8	36.2	05.3	12.6	06.2	02.8	02.3	0.8	-	-	-	2.0
Saarland	2017	40.7	29.6	04.0	06.2	03.3	12.8	00.4	0.7	-	-	-	2.3
Saxony	2019	32.1	07.7	08.6	27.5	04.5	10.4	03.4	0.3	1.6	1.5	-	2.4
Saxony-Anhalt	2016	29.8	10.6	05.2	24.3	04.9	16.3	02.2	-	0.5	1.5	NPD 1.9; Animal noise. 1.0	2.3
Schleswig-Holstein	2017	32.0	27.3	12.9	05.9	11.5	03.8	00.6	1.2	0.6	-	Week 3.3	1.5
Thuringia	2019	21.7	08.2	05.2	23.4	05.0	31.0	-	-	1.1	-	Animal welfare here 1.1	3.2
Total c		e30.2 e	22.1	13.7	12.3	07.7	06.6	0 f2.8 f	0.6	0.6	0.5	2.9

^* Preliminary official final result

^a CSU only in Bavaria

^b BVB / FW only in Brandenburg

^cStatus: March 12, 2020. Proportion as a percentage of the votes received of all valid votes cast in the last 16 elections to state parliaments, citizenships or chambers of representatives; in the case of the two-vote system, the national or second vote of the voter was counted; In Bavaria, both votes are added together for the proportional distribution of seats, the total was divided by two; in Bremen and Hamburg each voter has five votes for the state list, here the number of valid ballot papers was divided proportionally according to the number of votes.

^d Other parties with at least 1% in the election.

^e CDU 24.0%, CSU 6.2%

^f Free voters 2.7%, BVB / FW 0.2%

Election dates

The election dates are set by the state parliament or the state interior ministry. There is a predetermined time window for this in regular new elections. For early elections , a resolution by the Landtag, the Landtag President or the Prime Minister to dissolve the Landtag or to end the electoral period early is required. Votes are regularly held on a Sunday; the electoral laws often provide for public holidays as well.

This article or the following 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.

"Occasionally criticism ... is expressed." Individual opinion, possibly by the author, by no means encyclopedic.

Criticism of election dates

There is occasional criticism of the number of election dates in Germany and the length of the election periods, as the Bundesrat is also involved to a large extent in shaping federal policy . In the eyes of the critics, frequent elections lead to a permanent election campaign that paralyzes politics. The solution has often been to extend the term of office. There is now a five-year electoral term in all federal states with the exception of Bremen , only there is elections every four years. Another suggestion is to synchronize the election dates of all German states with unscheduled election dates only in the event of a break in the coalition. This would lead to shortened election periods in the countries concerned, which would only last until the next bar . To do this, the constitutional status of the countries would have to be changed. One speaks here of the horizontally simultaneous variant of election termination within a multilevel system, while consecutive elections are currently being made on both levels.

The following countries are currently voting at least approximately at the same time:

• Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt (March of the years divisible by five with the remainder: 2006, 2011, ...)
• Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (September of the years divisible by five with the remainder: 2006, 2011, ...)
• Bavaria and Hesse (September of the years divisible by five with the remaining three: 2008, 2013, ...)
• Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia (August or September of the years divisible by five with the remaining four: 2009, 2014, ...)
• North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein (spring of the years divisible by five with the remaining two: 2012, 2017, ...)

Statistics of German state parliaments

Current allocation of seats

The following overview lists the number of MPs per parliamentary group or group and the non-attached MPs by party.

Parliament of	last choice	Total seats (abs. Majority)	Government factions		CDU	SPD	Green	AfD	left	FDP	CSU	Other factions / groups	Non-attached	next choice *
			Seats	%
Baden-Württemberg	2016	143 0 (72)	090	62.2	43	19th	47	17th	-	12	-	-	5 ( independent )	2021
Bavaria	2018	205 (103)	112	54.6	-	22nd	38	20th	-	11	85	FW 27	2 (independent)	2023
Berlin	2016	160 0 (81)	092	57.5	31	38	27	22nd	27	11	-	-	4 (AfD 2, FDP 1, non-party 1)	2021
Brandenburg	2019	088 0 (45)	050	56.8	15th	25th	10	23	10	-	-	BVB / FW 5	-	2024
Free Hanseatic City of Bremen	2019	084 0 (43)	049	58.3	24	23	16	-	10	05	-	MRF 3 G	3 (AfD 2, BIW 1)	2023
Hamburg	2020	123 0 (62)	087	70.7	15th	54	33	7th	13	-	-	-	1 (FDP)	2025
Hesse	2018	137 0 (69)	069	50.3	40	29	29	18th	09	11	-	-	1 (AfD)	2023
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	2016	071 0 (36)	044	59.2	18th	26th	-	14th	11	-	-	-	2 (independent)	2021
Lower Saxony	2017	137 0 (69)	104	76.6	50	54	12	09	-	11	-	-	1 (independent)	2022
North Rhine-Westphalia	2017	199 (100)	100	50.3	72	69	14th	13	-	28	-	-	3 (independent)	2022
Rhineland-Palatinate	2016	101 0 (51)	051	50.5	35	39	06th	12	-	06th	-	-	3 (AfD, FDP, non-party)	2021
Saarland	2017	051 0 (26)	041	80.4	24	17th	-	02	6th	-	-	-	2 (AfD, left)	2022
Saxony	2019	119 0 (60)	067	56.3	45	10	12	38	14th	-	-	-	-	2024
Saxony-Anhalt	2016	087 0 (44)	046	52.9	30th	11	05	21st	16	-	-	-	4 (AfD 1, FW 1, independent 2)	2021
Schleswig-Holstein	2017	073 0 (37)	044	60.3	25th	21st	10	04th	-	09	-	Week 3 **	1 (independent)	2022
Thuringia	2019	090 0 (46)	042	46.7	21st	08th	05	22nd	29	05	-	-	-	2021
total		1,868			488	465	264	242	145	109	85	38	32
Percentage ownership %		100.0			26.1	24.9	14.1	13.0	7.8	5.8	4.6	2.0	1.7
represented in how many parliaments					15th	16	14th	15th	10	10	1	4th	13
of which in the government					10	11	11	-	3	3	1	1	-
thereof as the Prime Minister's party					6th	7th	1	-	1	-	1	-	-

The numbers of seats of the parties with the most seats are written in bold. Parties that are involved in state government are highlighted with a gray background. The party that provides the prime minister is highlighted in dark gray. The number of seats of the executive government parties are written in italics.

^G group

^*The year of the scheduled next election is given. The respective election could also take place earlier, for example due to early elections.

^**As representatives of the Danish minority in Germany, the MPs of the SSW have the rights of a parliamentary group regardless of their number.

Proportion of women

The following list shows the proportions of female members of the state parliament in the individual state parliaments (see development from 2015 ):

country	was standing	proportion of	see also: section in the main article of Parliament
Baden-Württemberg	August 2019	26.6%
Bavaria	November 2018	26.8%	Share of women in the Bavarian State Parliament
Berlin	March 2017	32.5%
Brandenburg	from October 2019	31.8%
Bremen	August 2019	36.9%
Hamburg	March 2017 (May 2010)	38.8% (33.9%)
Hesse	January 2019	33.6%
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	June 2019	25.4%
Lower Saxony	April 2018 (May 2012)	27.7% (29.2%)
North Rhine-Westphalia	from June 2017	27.1%	Share of women in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia
Rhineland-Palatinate	from April 2016	35.6%
Saarland	from April 2017	37.3%
Saxony	from October 2019	26.9%
Saxony-Anhalt	April 2018	21.8%
Schleswig-Holstein	from June 2017	30.1%
Thuringia	from November 2019	31.1%

See also

• Results of the state elections in the Federal Republic of Germany
• List of the last state election results in Germany
• Parliament
• Landtag (historical)
• Landtag (Austria)
• Prussian Landtag
• List of the Prime Ministers of the German states
• Group status in German state parliaments
• List of future election dates in Germany

literature

• Franz Greß , Ronald Huth : The state parliaments. Legislative bodies in the German federal states (= Heidelberger Wegweiser: Wegweiser parliament and government ). Hüthig, Heidelberg 1998, ISBN 3-7785-2332-5 .
• Siegfried Mielke / Werner Reutter: State parliamentarism in Germany. History - Structure - Functions , Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-8252-8255-4 , ISBN 3-8100-3893-8 .

Web links

 Wikinews: German state election  - in the news

• bundeswahlleiter.de - Link directory of the state returning officers
• Wahlrecht.de - Election systems and election results of the state elections
• Overview of the elections since 1946 on wahl.tagesschau.de. (Old versions: Landtag elections and Federal Council - stat.tagesschau.de ( Memento from August 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ))
• Wahlen-in-Deutschland.de - complete results of all state elections
• Research article on the activities and usefulness of state parliaments

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Democracy as the "guiding principle" of German federalism. Federal Agency for Civic Education, accessed on October 7, 2016 . 
2. ^ Wilko Zicht: The right to vote in state elections. In: Elections, Suffrage and Electoral Systems. October 27, 2019, accessed March 4, 2020 . 
3. ↑ see: German Bundestag - total of the votes of the federal states (electoral vote account) in the determination of state funds for the year 2016 (PDF; 132 kB); see also source: Complete list of votes in state elections in Germany
4. ↑ Landtag-bw.de
5. ↑ bayern.landtag.de
6. ↑ parlament-berlin.de
7. ↑ landtag.brandenburg.de
8. ↑ bremische-buergerschaft.de
9. ↑ hamburgische-buergerschaft.de
10. ↑ hessischer-landtag.de
11. ↑ landtag-mv.de
12. ↑ landtag-niedersachsen.de
13. ↑ landtag.nrw.de
14. ↑ landtag.rlp.de
15. ↑ landtag-saar.de
16. ↑ landtag.sachsen.de
17. ↑ landtag.sachsen-anhalt.de
18. ↑ landtag.ltsh.de
19. ↑ thueringer-landtag.de
20. ↑ State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg: | wayback = 20180425120357 | text = State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg, 16th electoral period: age structure and gender of the MPs (as of August 1, 2019)
21. ↑ People's Handbook, 18th electoral term
22. ↑ kuerschners.com
23. ↑ Bremische Bürgerschaft: Statistics for the 20th WP
24. ↑ kuerschners.com . Retrieved August 25, 2017.
25. ↑ Women's statistics as of January 14, 2019 . Retrieved September 9, 2019.
26. ↑ Handbook: Der Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 7th electoral period 2016–2021 (PDF; 4.4 MB), 5th edition June 2019, p. 132.
27. ↑ http://kuerschners.com/verlag/aktuelles/thema/news/frauenhaben-in-parlamenten.html Retrieved on April 26, 2018.
28. ↑ wa.de
29. ↑ landtag.rlp.de
30. ↑ Landtag printed paper 7/2749
31. ↑ bento.de
32. ↑ Der Spiegel A quarter of the women are out . Retrieved January 17, 2020.