State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia

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State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia
logo State Parliament building 2008
logo State Parliament building 2008
Basic data
Seat: Dusseldorf
Legislative period : basically five years
First session: October 2, 1946
MPs: 199
Current legislative period
Last choice: May 14, 2017
Next choice: probably in May 2022
Chair: State Parliament President
André Kuper ( CDU )
      
Distribution of seats:
  • CDU 72
  • SPD 69
  • FDP 28
  • Green 14
  • AfD 13
  • non-attached ( blue ) 3
  • Website
    www.landtag.nrw.de

    The state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and has its seat in the government district of the state capital Düsseldorf , at the easternmost point of the Hafen district . The Landtag is the central legislative body in the country's political system . In addition to passing laws, the most important task is the election of the Prime Minister and the control of the government.

    The last state election took place on May 14, 2017.

    Duties and rights

    Position in the state

    legislative branch

    As the representative of the state, the state parliament has the right to legislate , unless the federal government has the power to legislate. It is the central body of the country's legislature . It passes new laws and changes existing ones. The Basic Law regulates the distribution of legislative competences between the Federation and the Länder. The sole legislative competence of the country is z. B. in police and municipal law and in schools and education.

    Legislative process

    Bills can be introduced from the center of the state parliament by a parliamentary group or by a group of at least seven members of the state parliament. In addition to the state parliament, the government plays a key role in the legislature by introducing bills. In practice, most of the bills come from the government. Bills are to be submitted in detail and in writing for consultation. In the first reading in the plenary session, the draft bill is generally first discussed in general and then referred to a technical committee , and if necessary also to other committees, for technical advice. The technical committee will discuss the submission in detail. If necessary, he consults external experts, listens to lobby groups or those directly affected by the law. The Technical Committee will refer the draft law, which may have been reformulated, back to the plenary for a second reading with a recommendation for a resolution for the MPs. There the MPs discuss the draft law again. Every member has the opportunity to suggest changes to the draft. The proposed amendments are voted on individually in the plenary and finally on the entire bill. The state parliament decides with a majority of votes, unless the constitution prescribes a higher hurdle. The state parliament has a quorum if more than half of its statutory number of members is present. Constitutional amendments and budget laws are discussed in three readings. For other legislative projects, a parliamentary group or a quarter of all members of the state parliament can also request a third reading and further deliberations by the specialist committees. The President of the State Parliament sends a law passed by Parliament to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister signs and issues it in his capacity as head of state of the country. After promulgation in the Law and Ordinance Gazette , the law can come into force on the scheduled date.

    Referendums and referendums

    Similar to bills from parliament or government, petitions for a referendum must be submitted to the state parliament for a vote. If the state parliament rejects the referendum, a referendum is carried out. Successful referendums lead to implementation as law. A referendum can also be carried out at the request of the government if a law submitted by it to the state parliament did not find the approval of the state parliament. In practice, however, the forms of direct democracy hardly play a role.

    Legislative restrictions

    The legislative powers of the state parliament have decreased in some areas over the past few decades. This fact is mainly due to the legislative competence of the federal government. Although the federalism reform has delimited the competences of the federal government and the federal states more clearly than before, on the other hand, the unrestrained legislative activity of the federal government in many policy areas leads to a narrow framework that restricts the legislative competence of the federal state. The European Union also has a strong influence on national legislation. In contrast to the possibility of participating in national legislation via the Bundesrat, the states are not directly represented in the European Union . The state also participates in matters relating to the European Union through the Federal Council.

    Election of the Prime Minister

    The state parliament elects the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia , as stated in Article 51 of the state constitution, “from among its members” in a secret ballot without debate with more than half the legal number of its members. Only one member of the state parliament can be considered as prime minister. If the majority does not come about, a second, if necessary a third ballot takes place within 14 days, in which the person is elected who receives more than half of the votes cast. If there is no such majority, there will be a runoff between the two nominees who received the highest number of votes. Abstentions and invalid votes do not count towards the votes cast. So far, the Prime Minister has always been elected in the first ballot, with the exception of the re-election of Franz Meyers on July 25, 1966 and the election of Hannelore Kraft on July 14, 2010, both of which took place in the second ballot. The election of the Prime Minister is possible at any time by means of a constructive vote of no confidence ; the majority of the votes cast is sufficient for this. So far there have been two successful constructive votes of no confidence (on February 20, 1956 and December 8, 1966). The state parliament has no direct influence on the appointment or dismissal of the state ministers who, together with the prime minister, form the government. A new election of a prime minister in a constructive vote of no confidence leads to the end of the term of office of the previous state ministers.

    If no individual party achieved an absolute majority, in most cases a governing coalition of several parties was formed in the state parliament , which had a majority of the members of the state parliament and elected one of its state parliament members, usually a member of the larger parliamentary group, as prime minister. An exception is the state parliament in the 15th electoral term, in which the governing coalition acts without its own parliamentary majority . In the case of a coalition, the Prime Minister usually forms the government from politicians from the governing parties. In practice, the election of the Prime Minister through a stable government coalition means that the state government will find a secure majority for its bills in the state parliament and can thus exert considerable influence on the legislative process.

    Since the electorate does not directly elect the prime minister, but he is the dominant figure in the country's political system, the major parties elect a top candidate in the run-up to a state election who plays a central role in the state election campaign and, if he joins a coalition government, receives a top position . The top candidate of the smaller coalition party is regularly appointed by the prime minister as his deputy. The actual purpose of the state election, i.e. the election of the members of parliament, often takes a back seat to the supposed vote on the prime minister in the public eye.

    Government control

    Entrance area
    foyer

    The state parliament has extensive control options vis-à-vis the state government. He can call the members of the state government for questioning in the state parliament and must approve the budget draft to be submitted by the state government. State treaties concluded by the government must be approved by the state parliament. Last but not least, the Prime Minister can be replaced at any time by a constructive vote of no confidence. The State Audit Office controls the use of state funds by all state bodies. He is free to exercise this control and also controls the finances of the Landtag, but reports to the Landtag, which elects the highest members of the State Audit Office.

    Election of constitutional judges

    The state parliament elects all seven members and their deputies with a two-thirds majority for 10 years, whereby re-election is excluded and only persons who are qualified to hold judges can be elected. Three members and their deputies must be professional judges. The term of office of the judges in office immediately before the change came into force on July 1, 2017 remains unaffected. The long term of office, which usually does not end at the same time for all electoral members and which exceeds the length of the legislative period, ensures that the state parliament seldom opens during a legislative period, usually not at the beginning of the legislative period, and in rare cases not at all the composition of the judges influences. This strengthens the judicial independence of the constitutional court from the state parliament.

    Election of the members of the Federal Assembly

    While the state government appoints the representatives of the state in the Federal Council at its own discretion and provides them from among its ranks, the state parliament elects the representatives of the state in the federal assembly . The number of representatives of each party represented in the state parliament depends on their size in the state parliament. Due to the population of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (almost 18 million), the state has about a fifth of the members of the Federal Assembly, if you add to the members sent by the state parliament the members of the Bundestag who represent a North Rhine-Westphalian constituency or who have one on a North Rhine-Westphalian state list Party have moved into the Bundestag. The Landtag elects around half of the members of the Bundestag, namely precisely those members who are not members of the Federal Assembly by virtue of their membership in the Bundestag.

    organization

    General

    The state parliament is a working parliament; most of the parliamentary work takes place in the committees, not in the plenary. As a rule, the members of the state parliament are professional politicians. The members of parliament are grouped according to their party affiliation. At the beginning of a legislative period, the deputies elect the presidium, the council of elders and fill the committees.

    Landtag President

    André Kuper Carina Gödecke Eckhard Uhlenberg Edgar Moron Regina van Dinther Ulrich Schmidt (Politiker) Ingeborg Friebe Karl Josef Denzer John van Nes Ziegler Wilhelm Lenz John van Nes Ziegler Josef Hermann Dufhues Wilhelm Johnen Josef Gockeln Robert Lehr Ernst Gnoß

    The Presidium of the Landtag is presided over by the Landtag President , who is elected from among the members of the Landtag. As a rule, the President of the Landtag is appointed by the largest parliamentary group in the Landtag. The Presidium was headed by the following state parliament presidents:

    president Political party from to
    Ernst Gnoss SPD October 2, 1946 December 19, 1946
    Robert Lehr CDU December 19, 1946 April 19, 1947
    Josef Gockeln CDU April 19, 1947 December 6, 1958
    Wilhelm Johnen CDU January 13, 1959 April 19, 1966
    Josef Hermann Dufhues CDU April 19, 1966 July 23, 1966
    John van Nes Ziegler SPD July 25, 1966 July 25, 1970
    Wilhelm Lenz CDU July 27, 1970 May 28, 1980
    John van Nes Ziegler SPD May 29, 1980 May 29, 1985
    Karl Josef Denzer SPD May 30, 1985 May 29, 1990
    Ingeborg Friebe SPD May 31, 1990 May 31, 1995
    Ulrich Schmidt SPD June 1, 1995 June 2, 2005
    Regina van Dinther CDU June 8, 2005 June 9, 2010
    Edgar Moron SPD June 10, 2010 July 13, 2010
    Eckhard Uhlenberg CDU July 13, 2010 May 31, 2012
    Carina Goecke SPD May 31, 2012 May 31, 2017
    André Kuper CDU June 1, 2017
    1. After the state elections on May 9, 2010, a new presidium was not elected until July 13, 2010. In the constituent meeting on June 9, 2010, the previous President van Dinther announced, citing Article 38, Paragraph 2 of the constitution for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ("The previous Presidium will continue to manage the business until the new Presidium is elected.") : "The incumbent Presidium remains in office until a new Presidium is elected." Since she is no longer a member of the State Parliament, she will “end her term of office as President of the State Parliament today”. Until the second plenary session on July 13, 2010, the Presidium of the Landtag consisted of the first deputy Edgar Moron (SPD), who was also no longer a member of the Landtag but did not step down, and the other Vice-Presidents Oliver Keymis (GREEN) and Angela Freimuth ( FDP). The decision not to elect a new presidium on June 9, 2010 was criticized as "self-extermination" by the state parliament.

    Bureau

    The Presidium decides on all state parliament administration matters, insofar as they are not reserved for the president. The tasks of the Presidium include, among other things, the concerns of business operations, the archive and the library.

    The presidium includes (as of June 1, 2017):

    Council of Elders

    The council of elders has the task of supporting the president in the management of the business and, in particular, of bringing about an understanding between the parliamentary groups about the work plan and the order of the items to be discussed at the sessions of the state parliament as well as the distribution of the positions of the committee chairmen and their deputies. It meets on average once a month in the week before the plenary session and also determines the budget for the state parliament. The council of elders consists of the president, the vice-presidents and representatives of all political groups. In the constituent meeting on June 1, 2017, it was determined that the Council of Elders should include a further 13 representatives of the parliamentary groups.

    Members of the political groups:

    • CDU: 5 members
    • SPD: 4 members
    • FDP: 2 members
    • AfD: 1 member and 1 advisory and deputy member
    • BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN: 1 member and 1 advisory and deputy member

    Factions

    According to Article 30 paragraph 5 of the constitution for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in the version dated December 16, 2017 in conjunction with Section 1 paragraph 1 of the law on the legal status of parliamentary groups in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia (Fraktionsgesetz - FraktG NRW) independent and independent divisions of the parliament. You have your own rights and duties to help shape parliamentary will. Further details are regulated in the rules of procedure of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament, Sections 11–13. Further regulations can be found in the law on representatives of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia - AbgG NRW - of April 5, 2005.

    Members

    Scheme of the state election right. In principle, the election of the Landtag in North Rhine-Westphalia follows the election system of the Bundestag .

    choice

    Principles

    The North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament is elected according to a system of personalized proportional representation. The members of the state parliament are elected in general , equal, direct, secret and free elections. The state parliament has at least 181 members. In addition, overhang mandates and compensation mandates are possible. 128 of the MPs are direct candidates who represent their constituencies . The rest of the MPs are list candidates who represent a party. Each voter has two votes. Direct candidates are elected with the first vote. The second vote largely determines the relative size of the individual parties in the new state parliament.

    Eligible voters

    Active right to vote have all the Germans who the age of eighteen have reached and on the 16th day before the election their residence have in North Rhine-Westphalia and are not excluded due care or a court decision the right to vote or be elected. All active voters who have their main residence in North Rhine-Westphalia for at least three months have passive voting rights . The state of North Rhine-Westphalia has 17,947,221 (as of December 31, 2019) inhabitants. Of these, around 13.2 million citizens have the right to vote and stand for election.

    Constituencies

    The country is divided into 128 constituencies with approximately the same number of inhabitants and voters. If an electoral district deviates by more than 20% from the average size, it must be redefined. Each constituency has mathematically about 140,000 inhabitants. In practice, for example, each district (except for Höxter and Olpe districts ) is divided into several constituencies, some of which are cross-district. The division of the country into constituencies only plays a role in the choice of direct candidates through the allocation of the first votes.

    Nominations

    Proposals for election in the constituency (district election proposals) can be submitted by parties, groups of voters and individual voters. Country lists can only be submitted by political parties. Parties that have not been represented in a Landtag or in the Bundestag since their last election and whose party status was not determined before the last Bundestag election can only submit nominations since July 1, 2017 if they are up to the 90th day before the election State returning officers indicate their participation and the state election committee determines their party status. District election proposals must be submitted to the district returning officer by 6 p.m. by the 59th day before the election (until 2017: 48th day before the election), and state lists must be submitted to the state returning officer by the same time. In the event of an election after the dissolution of the state parliament, the deadlines can be shortened by ordinance. Parties that have not been represented in the state parliament or have been represented in the Bundestag without interruption since the last election due to an election proposal from North Rhine-Westphalia must provide 1000 support signatures from eligible voters for a state list. For constituency nominations, these parties as well as non-party applicants need support signatures from at least 100 eligible voters from the constituency concerned. Each eligible voter may only support one nomination. A district election proposal may only contain one applicant; the applicants on the state list must be named in a recognizable order. Election proposals by parties and groups of voters must be decided by secret ballot by the members or secretly elected delegates. The state boards of the parties have a one-time right to object to the election of such a general or representative assembly. If such an objection is lodged, the meeting must be repeated and either confirm the candidate or elect another candidate. Before the 2005 state elections, the CDU state executive successfully made use of this right in the Cologne II constituency .

    Choice of direct candidates

    With the first vote, the voters in each of the 128 constituencies elect one member directly. The applicant with the most votes is elected; in the event of a tie, the lot is decisive. His entry is independent of how the second votes are distributed; in any case, he will enter the new state parliament with 127 other direct candidates. Since 1954, only candidates from the major CDU and SPD parties have been elected. Theoretically, the direct candidates should primarily represent the citizens of their constituency. In practice, however, their party affiliation plays the predominant role in the work in the state parliament and takes a back seat to the non-partisan representation of interests of all citizens and all voters in the constituency. If a party wins more direct mandates than it would be entitled to based on its second share of the vote, these are referred to as overhang mandates (see below), although a number of overhang mandates can be calculated, but it is impossible to assign them to individual direct candidates.

    Distribution of seats in the state parliament

    General view of the plenary chamber. Look at the lectern.
    Flight with an octocopter in the plenary hall of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. You can see the seating arrangements for the 16th electoral term.

    For the relative number of seats of each party in the state parliament, the share of second votes is of particular importance. The following second votes are not taken into account in the ratio adjustment:

    • Votes for parties that received less than 5% of the valid votes,
    • Second votes of those voters who chose a candidate who was successful in the constituency and who did not run for a party for which a state list was approved (i.e. non-party applicants and applicants from parties who only run with direct candidates). These second votes are not taken into account because otherwise these voters can have a considerably greater influence on the distribution of seats than the other voters. (There is a similar regulation in the federal election law .)

    From the total number of seats in the state parliament, i.e. 181, the number of direct mandates for applicants who did not stand for parties participating in the ratio adjustment is deducted, and this is how the initial number is determined. However, since direct mandates have only been given to applicants from parties who participated in the equalization scheme since the state was founded, the initial number is in fact equal to the total number of members of the state parliament. Seats in the amount of the initial number will be distributed to the parties participating in the balance in proportion to the second votes to be taken into account according to the Sainte-Laguë procedure . The number of direct mandates won by this party is deducted from the number of seats determined in this way for each party. The remaining seats will be allocated to the party via the state list in the order specified there, whereby applicants who have won a direct mandate are not considered.

    With a good 70%, North Rhine-Westphalia has the highest proportion of direct mandates in the regular membership of all German federal states (in most other states, as well as in the Bundestag, it is only around 50%). Therefore, a party often gets more seats in the constituencies than it is entitled to based on the percentage of votes, so-called overhang mandates . In this case, the other parties receive compensation mandates in order to distribute the seats proportionally; the state parliament is expanded to include overhang and compensatory mandates. Theoretically, several parties can have overhang mandates at the same time, but this has not happened so far. If there are overhang mandates, the number of seats is recalculated as follows: The total second votes to be taken into account in the ratio adjustment are divided by the number of votes of the party that has the relatively largest number of overhang mandates and multiplied by the number of direct mandates for this party and rounded to the nearest whole number. If the total number of seats in the state parliament is even, taking into account any direct mandates for parties not participating in the ratio adjustment, the initial number is increased by one more seat, so that the number of members of the state parliament is uneven. The distribution of seats is carried out again with this increased number of seats. This regulation for compensation mandates can lead to the fact that the state parliament is enlarged more than is necessary to establish proportional representation, or that one party still has overhang mandates even with the increased total number of seats. This case is not regulated in the state election law.

    With the exception of the 2010 election, there have been overhang seats in every state election since 1985, so that the state parliament has since then regularly had more members than the minimum number of members.

    Ballot

    Ballot for the Herford II constituency , election 2010

    The left column is for the first vote, the right column for the second vote. The order of the nominations on the ballot papers is initially based on the number of votes received in the state in the last state parliament election. This is followed by new parties with state lists in the order in which the list was submitted to the state returning officer. The voting slip is completed by the parties and non-party applicants who are only present in the constituency in the order in which they are received by the constituency returning officer.

    Resignation of individual members

    Regardless of whether they are elected in constituencies or via the state list, MPs who are out of office due to waiver, loss of eligibility or death will be replaced by the next unelected candidate from the state list of the party for which they are elected. Directly elected candidates without a state reserve list will be replaced by replacement.

    In the event of a loss of office due to a party ban , a distinction must be made between whether the member of the constituency is elected directly or from the state reserve list. In the case of direct elections, a repeat election takes place in the constituency in which the member who has left the election cannot be elected. In this case, MPs elected via state lists will only be replaced if they were elected for a non-unconstitutional party, i.e. after the election they switched to the party that was later declared unconstitutional.

    Duration of the electoral term

    The state parliament elected on April 20, 1947 was elected for three years. The constitution of 1950 initially provided for a four-year electoral term. In 1969 it was extended to five years. The electoral period begins with the first session of the newly elected state parliament. Regular state elections take place in the last three months of the electoral term. The Landtag meets for the first time within 20 days of its election, but not before the end of the electoral period of the old Landtag.

    The state parliament can dissolve itself with a majority of its legal number of members. This happened for the first time on March 14, 2012. There has never been a dissolution of the state parliament by the state government. The prerequisite for this is that the electorate, in a referendum, approves a bill by the state government that the state parliament rejected previously. After dissolution, a new election must take place within 90 days (until 2016: within 60 days).

    Changes to the electoral law

    With the 2005 election, the state parliament was reduced from its regular 201 to its regular 181 seats by reducing the number of constituencies from 151 to 128 and increasing the minimum number of list mandates from 50 to 53. However, the Landtag can still have more than 200 seats through overhang and equalization mandates.

    The fraction strength of the parties participating in the balance was calculated until 2005 according to the Hare-Niemeyer method . Instead, the Sainte-Laguë method is currently used.

    Up to and including 2005, unlike in the federal and state elections in most other federal states, the voter only had one vote for a constituency candidate, which also counted in the ratio adjustment for his party's state reserve list. This disadvantaged parties that could not put up a candidate in every constituency, as in 2005 Die Linke (116 constituencies), NPD (109 constituencies) and ödp (78 constituencies). That changed with the introduction of a second vote for the state election in May 2010.

    Election results

    State election 2017
    Second votes (in%)
     %
    40
    30th
    20th
    10
    0
    33.0
    31.2
    12.6
    7.4
    6.4
    4.9
    1.0
    3.5
    Otherwise.
    Gains and losses
    compared to 2012
     % p
       8th
       6th
       4th
       2
       0
      -2
      -4
      -6
      -8th
    +6.7
    -7.9
    +4.0
    +7.4
    -4.9
    +2.4
    -6.8
    -0.9
    Otherwise.

    State Parliament 2017

    Constituency majorities 2017

    In the state parliament of the 17th electoral term elected in the state elections in 2017 , five parliamentary groups are represented, as in the state parliament from 2012 to 2017. However, the pirates left the state parliament, which in turn was joined by the AfD with 16 mandates. The CDU won 72 and the SPD 69 seats, making the CDU the strongest political force in North Rhine-Westphalia again after five years. A few days after the election, the CDU and FDP started coalition negotiations.

    The following table shows the official final result of the state elections on May 14, 2017 and the resulting distribution of mandates:

    State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, start of the 2017–2022 legislative period
    Political party Second votes Proportion of [%] Seats Proportion of [%] graphic
    CDU 2,796,683 33.0 72 36.2
    69
    14th
    28
    72
    16
    69 14th 28 72 16 
    199 seats in total
    SPD 2,649,205 31.2 69 34.7
    FDP 1,065,307 12.6 28 14.1
    AfD 626.756 7.4 16 8.0
    GREEN 539.062 6.4 14th 7.0
    Others 810.400 9.5 - 0
    total 8,487,413 100.0 199 100

    The constituent session of the state parliament took place on June 1, 2017. With the departure of three MPs from the AfD parliamentary group in September and October 2017, this shrank to 13 seats. On September 26, 2017, the two AfD MPs, Marcus Pretzell and Alexander Langguth, announced that they were leaving their parliamentary group, which was then reduced to 14 elected representatives, and continued their mandate as non-attached. Those who left have since been non-attached.

    State election 2012

    In the Landtag of the 16th electoral term elected in the Landtag election in 2012 , as in the Landtag from 2010 to 2012, five parliamentary groups are represented. However, the left fell out of the state parliament, into which the pirates managed to gain entry with 20 seats. The SPD won 99 mandates and the CDU 67, making the SPD again the strongest political force in North Rhine-Westphalia after seven years. The minority government made up of the SPD and the Greens achieved its own parliamentary majority.

    The following table shows the preliminary official final result of the state elections of May 13, 2012 and the resulting distribution of mandates:

    State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, beginning of the legislative period 2012–2017
    Political party Second votes Proportion of [%] Seats Proportion of [%] graphic
    SPD 3,050,160 39.1 99 41.8
    20th
    99
    29
    22nd
    67
    20th 99 29 22nd 67 
    A total of 237 seats

    State Returning Officer

    CDU 2,050,633 26.3 67 28.3
    GREEN 884.136 11.3 29 12.2
    FDP 669.971 8.6 22nd 9.3
    PIRATES 608,957 7.8 20th 8.4
    Others 530.269 6.9 - 0
    total 7,794,126 100.0 237 100

    The constituent session of the state parliament took place on May 31, 2012.

    Diets before 2012

    State elections and state governments since 1946

    The first state parliaments were appointed by the British occupying power and elected democratically from 1947. Until the state elections in 2005, the state was the home of the German social democracy, which led the state government in various coalitions from 1966 to 2005. Under the leadership of Karl Arnold, the CDU played its longest time as the largest ruling party from 1947 to 1956. From 1958 to 1966, it was again able to provide the Prime Minister as the largest parliamentary group for around eight years. During the period of the Social Democratic Prime Minister from 1966 to 2005, it was the largest parliamentary group in the state parliament in two electoral terms. During this time, however, she was unable to organize a government coalition. For the first time in decades, the state elections in 2005 led to a government with the participation of the CDU in the former home country of the Social Democrats , which was able to maintain the constituencies in the Ruhr area in particular. In 2010, the CDU recorded significant losses, but remained the strongest political force in terms of percentage. Since the CDU and FDP no longer had a majority of their own and the SPD rejected a government under a CDU Prime Minister, a minority government of SPD and Greens was formed under Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft (SPD), who was elected to office with votes from the left.

    Share of women in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia

    The proportion of women among the MPs in the 17th electoral term is 27.6 percent or 55 out of 199 in absolute numbers. The total proportion of women MPs in the state parliament was just under 30 percent in the 16th electoral term. It was 27.07 percent in the 15th electoral term, 31.02 percent at the end of the 14th electoral term, and 32.47 percent in the 13th electoral term.

    In contrast to the 15th electoral term, in which the parliamentary group DIE LINKE was headed jointly by a woman and a man, in the 16th electoral term the parliamentary group chairmanship was a purely male domain. Parliamentary management was in the hands of women in two out of five cases, namely the Greens and the pirates.

    In addition, in the 16th electoral term of the state parliament, Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft was the first woman in the history of North Rhine-Westphalia to head the state government . Sylvia Löhrmann also remained Deputy Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.

    The proportion fluctuated between the term of office in 1946 and the 10th electoral term in 1990 between 5 percent and 11 percent. It was not until the 11th electoral term in 1990 that the 20 percent mark was exceeded for the first time. Since the 12th electoral term in 1995, the share has oscillated around the 30 percent mark.

    Overview 17th legislative term 16th legislative term 15th legislative term
    fraction total Women Proportion of women total Women Proportion of women total Women Proportion of women
    CDU 72 (67) 17th 23.6% 67 15th 22.4% 67 10 14.93%
    FDP 28 (13) 5 17.9% 22nd 4th 18.2% 13 2 15.38%
    SPD 69 (67) 24 34.8% 99 33 33.3% 67 19th 28.36%
    ALLIANCE 90 / THE GREENS 14 (23) 7th 50% 29 15th 51.7% 23 12 52.17%
    The left 11 6th 54.55%
    Pirate party 20th 3 15%
    AfD 16 2 12.5%
    Landtag as a whole 199 55 27.6% 237 70 29.54% 181 49 27.07%

    Parliament building

    Düsseldorf Opera, venue of the 1st session
    " Haus Henkel ", venue for the 2nd to 19th session
    The parliament building in Dusseldorf, the Rhine Tower seen from

    History and overview

    The election of Düsseldorf to the state capital came as a surprise in 1946. The city, which was badly damaged by World War II, initially offered hardly any suitable rooms for the state parliament. Structures of a state capital did not exist. Although Düsseldorf had been the capital of the Duchy of Berg for centuries and for a few years the state capital of the Grand Duchy of Berg , after that the city only served as the seat of the Prussian regional council of Düsseldorf , as the seat of the provincial association of the Rhine Province and as the meeting place for its provincial parliament . Düsseldorf never held the rank of capital of a country within the German Confederation , the North German Confederation and the German Reich . The city had not even been the seat of a Prussian provincial government, like Münster , for example , if one disregards the period from October 1945 to October 1946, in which Düsseldorf was the capital of the Rhine province , the province of North Rhine , which was reduced by the southern administrative districts . The decision in favor of Düsseldorf as the state capital was made by the British occupying power, probably with a view to the central, economic and geographical location, the existing centers of the coal and steel industry and the offer of undamaged administrative buildings. The much larger Cologne appeared unfavorable due to the greater war damage and the more peripheral location, the former Westphalian provincial capital Münster was probably too small. The even smaller Detmold was the capital of the state of Lippe , but in 1946 it was not yet part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

    Düsseldorf Opera

    The constituent session of the first, not elected, but appointed state parliament took place on October 2, 1946 in the Düsseldorf Opera , which had already resumed performance on October 9, 1945. The festive opening of the state parliament began with the performance of the Coriolan overture under the direction of the Düsseldorf General Music Director Heinrich Hollreiser and with speeches by the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Rudolf Amelunxen and the Commander-in-Chief of the British Zone Sholto Douglas .

    Gesoleisaal

    After that, the first meeting was held in the rooms of the Henkel plant in Düsseldorf-Holthausen , which also made rooms available to the parliamentary groups. The Gesoleisaal in " Haus Henkel " was used as the plenary hall from the 2nd to the 19th session , where there were regular theater and cinema performances for the employees of the Henkel factories and for British soldiers and which therefore had to be prepared for each plenary session. The working conditions were poor. There were no work desks, no fixed rooms for parliamentary groups and committee meetings. The state parliament administration was temporarily housed in the administration building of the Mannesmann am Rhein company .

    Ständehaus

    In 1949 the Landtag moved into the Ständehaus , which was badly damaged in the war and rebuilt from 1947 to 1949. The parliament building in the Unterbilk district was built until 1880 for the provincial parliament of the provincial association of the Rhine Province with only about 70 members, so that the members of the parliament and the administration now also had to be accommodated in the surrounding buildings. The cramped spatial conditions initially led to plans to build on the Ständehaus. However, these plans were dropped in view of the monumental value of the old building and the park surrounding it. The Düsseldorf architect and urban planner Edmund Spohr suggested building a new state parliament building at the so-called Rhine knee . This idea was approved by the state parliament, and in 1988 the new building on the banks of the Rhine was moved into. The Ständehaus then stood empty for a long time. Today a department of the North Rhine-Westphalia art collection is housed there.

    New Landtag

    The new state parliament building in Düsseldorf's government district is located directly on the Rhine and near today's Media Harbor . It was built in 1988 according to designs by the architectural office Eller , Moser , Walter + Partner . The modern design is characterized by transparency and openness. Six semicircular sub-buildings are grouped around the circular plenary hall and take up its shape.

    Villa Horion

    Some meeting rooms and the Petitions Committee are located in Villa Horion. Named after Johannes Horion , the neoclassical, palais-like Villa Horion, built in 1911 on the banks of the Rhine near the new state parliament, was the seat of the Prime Minister and the State Chancellery from 1961 to 1999 before they moved to the city ​​gate . Standing in the shadow of the Mannesmann buildings ( Mannesmann-Haus , Mannesmann-Hochhaus ), it was also jokingly referred to as “Mannesmann's gatehouse”. The architect of the Villa Horion and the adjacent country house was Hermann vom Endt . Since October 2016 the villa has served as the House of Parliament History .

    literature

    in order of appearance

    • Josef Lehrmann (Red.): State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Origin, structure and working method of our parliament . Lensing, Dortmund 1959.
    • Friedhelm Geraedts, Jürgen Knepper (Red.): The new state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. A house for all citizens . State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf 1988.
    • Jürgen Ockermann: This is how the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia works. Tasks, composition, organization and working method . 1993, ISBN 3-87576-310-6 .
    • Dieter Düding: People's party in the state parliament. The social democratic parliamentary group in North Rhine-Westphalia as the government group from 1966–1990 . Dietz, Bonn 1998, ISBN 978-3-8012-4093-6 .
    • Andreas Holzapfel: State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia . Neue Darmstädter Verlagsanstalt, 2003, ISBN 3-87576-499-4 .
    • Uwe Andersen, Rainer Bovermann: The state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia . In: Siegfried Mielke , Werner Reutter (ed.): Land parliamentarism in Germany . History, structure, function. Wiesbaden 2004, p. 307-330 .
    • Alois Vogel: 60 years of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament. The country and its deputies . State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf 2006.
    • Michael Carlo Klepsch: 60 years of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament. The forgotten brown legacy . Die Linke Nordrhein-Westfalen, Münster 2009 ( PDF ).
    • Michael Farrenkopf: Buddy and Coal. The state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Ruhr coal from 1946 to 2008 . State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf 2009.
    • Karl-Rudolf Korte : Elections in North Rhine-Westphalia . 2nd Edition. Wochenschau, Schwalbach 2010, ISBN 978-3-89974-496-5 ( nrw.de [PDF; accessed on January 16, 2011] Reading sample, Chapter 3: State elections in North Rhine-Westphalia ).
    • Nico Grasselt, Markus Hoffmann, Julia-Verena Lerch (eds.): The state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Functions, processes and working methods . Budrich, Opladen 2011, ISBN 978-3-86649-337-7 .

    Web links

    Commons : Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

    Individual evidence

    1. NRW votes on May 14, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2016 .
    2. Wolfgang Löwer, Peter J. Tettinger: Commentary on the Constitution of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, 2002, p. 815
    3. Article in Spiegel from August 1, 1966
    4. ^ Plenary minutes of the constituent meeting of the 14th State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia on June 8, 2005
    5. Article on www.wdr.de from June 9, 2010 ( Memento from June 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
    6. http://www.rp-online.de/nrw/landespolitik/afd-hat-keinen-platz-im-landtagspraesidium-aid-1.6858060
    7. Determination of the number of members of the council of elders. (PDF) In: Drucksache 17/8. LANDTAG NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, June 1, 2017, accessed on June 2, 2017 .
    8. ^ Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Division 14: Laws and ordinances | State law NRW. Retrieved December 20, 2017 .
    9. ^ Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Division 14: Laws and ordinances | State law NRW. Retrieved December 20, 2017 .
    10. ^ State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia: State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia: Rules of Procedure of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Retrieved December 20, 2017 .
    11. Act amending the State Election Act, the Constitutional Court Act and other laws of 7 April 2017
    12. ↑ In 1995, for example, the state parliament was enlarged to 221 seats, the SPD achieved 9 overhang seats with 108 direct seats. Even with 219 seats, the SPD had already granted 108 seats. It was similar in 1990, when the SPD even won a compensatory mandate despite its overhanging mandate.
    13. ^ Wahlrecht.de (ed.), Wilko Zicht, Martin Fehndrich: Wahlsystem Nordrhein-Westfalen. 2009.
    14. State Election Act
    15. Article 34
    16. Article 35
    17. Ministry of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia (Ed.): Reform of the state election law ( Memento from July 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
    18. ^ Final result , State Returning Officer North Rhine-Westphalia
    19. ^ Official final result of the state election 2017. Accessed on May 27, 2017 .
    20. Landtag NRW: calendar of meetings , landtag.nrw.de. Retrieved May 27, 2017
    21. Rheinische Post: Another NRW member turns his back on AfD
    22. Preliminary final result of the 2012 state elections. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 17, 2015 ; Retrieved May 15, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / alt.wahlresults.nrw.de
    23. State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia: Gender Distribution in the 16th State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Accessed on August 8, 2012.
    24. Landtag NRW: Statistics on the proportion of women in the Landtag in the 15th electoral period. As of June 9, 2010. Accessed August 9, 2010.
    25. Landtag NRW: Statistics on the proportion of women in the Landtag of the 14th electoral period. As of March 12, 2010. Accessed August 9, 2010.
    26. ^ State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia: The parliamentary groups. Accessed on August 8, 2012.
    27. ^ State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia - Section II.2 Information Services: Statistics on the number and proportion of women in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia since 1946. May 31, 2012, accessed on December 7, 2017 .
    28. a b State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia: State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia: Statistical information on the MPs - proportion of women. Retrieved December 6, 2017 .
    29. ^ State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia: State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia: Distribution of the sexes in the 16th State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia . Retrieved December 6, 2017 .
    30. ^ Institute for Empirical Social and Communication Research (Ed.): July 17, 1946. Düsseldorf becomes state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. ( Memento from May 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
    31. Landtag NRW (Ed.): House of the Landtag
    32. ^ Stenographic report on the opening session of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia on October 2, 1946 in the Düsseldorf Opera , PDF
    33. Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia (ed.), Gerhard Eyckers: The Landtag in the Henkel works. 1950. ( Memento of the original from January 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.landtag.nrw.de
    34. ^ Institute for Empirical Social and Communication Research (Ed.): July 17, 1946. Düsseldorf becomes state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. ( Memento from May 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
    35. Landtag NRW (Ed.): House of the Landtag
    36. Der Spiegel: The Members of the Glass House. The new building of the state parliament in North Rhine-Westphalia. 6/36. 5th September 1988.
    37. Focus: North Rhine-Westphalia. Temporary ruin. 25/1993. June 21, 1993.
    38. Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia (ed.), Gerhard Eyckers: The Landtag in the Henkel works. 1950. ( Memento of May 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
    39. ^ Institute for Empirical Social and Communication Research (Ed.): July 17, 1946. Düsseldorf becomes state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. ( Memento from May 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
    40. Virtual tour of the plenary building
    41. ^ Ewald Grothe: From Catholic Day to the Festival of Generations. The history of the country house and the Villa Horion 1909 to 2009
    42. Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia (ed.): Villa Horion. Villa Horion in new splendor. Official opening by the President of the State Parliament, Ulrich Schmidt. ( Memento from January 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

    Coordinates: 51 ° 13 ′ 8 ″  N , 6 ° 45 ′ 49 ″  E