Early election

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Early elections are elections after the dissolution of a parliament in the course of the early termination of the legislative period .

Germany

Bundestag

The Basic Law provides two options that can lead to early elections. After Art. 68 para. 1 can President of the Bundestag on the proposal of the Federal Chancellor within 21 days to resolve , provided that at a vote of confidence has not found a majority in parliament. In the event of a successful constructive vote of no confidence, the right to dissolve the Bundestag expires. If a Federal Chancellor is elected with a relative , but not with an absolute majority of the members of the Bundestag in accordance with Art. 63 Para. 4 , the Federal President can also dissolve the Bundestag. A self-dissolution rights of the Bundestag does not exist, but is discussed . If the Federal President dissolves the Bundestag, new elections must take place within 60 days according to Art. 39 Para. 1.

The first early federal election in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany was the 1972 federal election . This was preceded by a vote of no confidence in Willy Brandt in April 1972, in which, if it had turned out constructively, Rainer Barzel (CDU) would have been elected Chancellor. It failed because of two missing votes. At least the vote against Barzel was bought by Julius Steiner (CDU) through the Ministry for State Security (MfS) ( Steiner-Wienand affair ). Despite the successful vote, the coalition no longer had an effective majority, so that Federal President Gustav Heinemann dissolved the Bundestag after Brandt's vote of confidence was negative.

In 1982, in the middle of the legislative period, the FDP broke away from the social-liberal coalition to form a government with the CDU . Helmut Kohl was elected Chancellor. A new election of the Bundestag should legitimize the new coalition. The coalition chose the failed vote of confidence to bring about the new elections. Parliament voted on December 17, 1982 on the vote of confidence. Although the joint federal budget for 1983 had only been decided the day before, Parliament did not trust the Chancellor. After heated discussions about the constitutionality of this process, the Federal President Karl Carstens decided to order the dissolution of the Bundestag and to call for new elections for March 6, 1983. The Bundestag election of March 6, 1983 , was clearly won by the CDU / CSU, the FDP remained a coalition partner despite internal party disputes and heavy losses.

Immediately after the SPD's defeat in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2005 , the federal and parliamentary group leader Franz Müntefering announced a new election. He justified this with the fact that the trust of the population in the red-green federal government was no longer recognizable. Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder put the vote of confidence to the parliament, which with the vote of July 1, 2005 withheld it. The Chancellor then proposed to Federal President Horst Köhler that the Bundestag be dissolved. This dissolved the 15th German Bundestag on July 21, 2005 and ordered a new election. As in 1982, the constitutionality of this procedure was questioned, but was confirmed as constitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court . In the 2005 Bundestag election on September 18, 2005, the red-green coalition lost its majority.

countries

At the state level, unlike at the federal level, the possibility of parliamentary dissolution is widespread. The Hessian state parliament dissolved on November 19, 2008 and thus made possible a new election on January 18, 2009 . For early elections, a resolution by the Landtag, the Landtag President or the Prime Minister to dissolve the Landtag and terminate the electoral period early is required. The state elections in Schleswig-Holstein on May 6, 2012 became necessary after the legislative period was terminated by the state constitutional court on August 30, 2010.

Examples of early elections at state level are the state elections in Hamburg in December 1982 , 1987 , 1993 , 2004 and 2011 , the election to the city council of Greater Berlin in 1948 , the elections to the Berlin House of Representatives in 1950 , 1981 , 1990 and 2001 , the state elections in Hesse 2009 and the state election in Lower Saxony in 2017 . The state elections in Schleswig-Holstein in 2012 were the second early elections in a row after the state parliament was dissolved before the regular end of the legislative period due to a vote of confidence by the Prime Minister for the 2009 state elections . The state election in 1988 was also an early election.

Austria

The National Council can dissolve itself by a simple law or be dissolved by the Federal President. While self-dissolution through a new election resolution has often occurred, the Federal President made use of his right to dissolve only once in 1930. The state parliaments also have the right to dissolve themselves.

Switzerland

After a total revision of the Federal Constitution, the National Council and the Council of States must be re-elected. Otherwise early elections are not planned.

Other countries

In most states, the dissolution of parliament is a right of the head of state. In many states, however, it can only initiate early elections under certain conditions. In addition to Austria, there is a right of self-dissolution in Israel and Poland. Poland and Austria also have the president's right to dissolve. In Latvia the parliament can be dissolved by a referendum, which happened in 2011 . The United States and Norway have no dissolution of parliament.

In Great Britain the king traditionally dissolved the lower house on the proposal of the prime minister. There is a similar practice in some other monarchies such as the Netherlands, Belgium or Denmark. Since the Fixed-Term Parliament Act 2011 came into force, an early election has only taken place if the House of Commons decides to do so with a two-thirds majority or if the House of Commons expresses mistrust of the government and then does not trust a new government within 14 days.

Individual evidence

  1. Federal Constitutional Law Art. 29. In: Rechtsinformationssystem der Republik Österreich . January 1, 2004, accessed May 18, 2019 .
  2. ^ Christian Böhmer: Why Thomas Klestil shied away from dismissing parliament. In: kurier.at. March 31, 2016, accessed May 20, 2019 .
  3. Art. 193 BV total revision - Federal Constitution. In: Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation . Retrieved May 18, 2019 .

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