Federal Convention (Germany)
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Federal Convention Bundesversammlung | |
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18th Federal Convention will convene on or before 16 February 2027 | |
Type | |
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Established | 1949 |
Leadership | |
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bundestag.de |
This article is part of a series on the |
Politics of Germany |
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The Federal Convention, also known as the Federal Assembly (German: Bundesversammlung), is, together with the Joint Committee, one of two non-standing constitutional bodies in the federal institutional system of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is convened solely for the purpose of electing the President of Germany, either every five years (no later than 30 days before the expiration of a sitting President's term) or within 30 days of the premature termination of a presidential term. The Federal Convention consists of all members of the German federal parliament (Bundestag) and the same number of delegates from the 16 federated states. Those delegates are elected by the state parliaments for this purpose only.
The Basic Law mandates that a maximum of three rounds of voting can be held. On the first two rounds, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of delegates to be elected. After that, in the third round, a plurality of all delegates voting is sufficient for election to the office of Federal President. Any member of the convention may nominate candidates.
Usually there is not much uncertainty about the outcome: the party affiliations of the members of the convention, and hence the strength of the single parties, are known already. In many cases, the coalition in the federal parliament presented a joint candidate who prevailed in the first round.
Convening the Bundesversammlung
Each Federal Convention is convened by the incumbent President of the Bundestag in due course. Normally, this takes place during the last months of a sitting President's current term of office. The Convention must meet no later than thirty days before the end of the term, with the state parliaments needing sufficient time between the convening and the meeting to elect state electors.
If the term of office of a President ends prematurely through resignation or death, the Federal Convention must meet within thirty days. This has happened twice so far (2010 and 2012); in both cases, the President of the Bundestag convened the Assembly at the latest possible date.
Procedure
According to the Grundgesetz, the President is elected without a debate at the Federal Convention. The candidates are usually nominated by one or more parties but do not generally run a campaign. Each member of the Bundesversammlung may suggest candidates for the office of the Federal President. This means that not only parliamentary groups from the Bundestag can present a candidate but also small parties which may not be represented in the Bundestag. The Bundesversammlung is chaired by the President of the Bundestag (or one of the Vice Presidents, if the President stands as a candidate – as was the case with Karl Carstens in 1979).
The procedure of the
Normally, the new president takes office thirty days after the election at the earliest, as the term of office of the predecessor is still continuing. Only in the case of a vacancy (e.g. after the resignation of the predecessor, as happened in 2010 and 2012), the elected person takes office immediately upon acceptance of the election. Irrespective of this, a newly elected president does not take the oath of office before the Federal Convention, but after taking office in a joint session of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.
Membership
The Bundesversammlung includes the entire membership of the Bundestag, and an equal number of state delegates elected by the state or 'Länder' parliaments specifically for this purpose, proportional to their population.[1]
According to federal law, every member of a state parliament has one vote. The delegates are elected with lists and proportional vote. Some details are dealt with by the standing orders of the state parliament. In many state parliaments, the members vote on a joint list that mirrors the strengths of the parliamentary groups.
A delegate for the Federal Convention must meet one certain standard: they must also be eligible for a candidacy for the Bundestag. The parliamentary groups sometimes elect delegates who are not politicians. For example, they choose artists, sports persons or other celebrities, or occasionally an ordinary citizen with an unusual story. Examples from 2017 are
The idea behind this custom is to have the president be elected not only by politicians but by a broader segment of the population. Also, the political parties like to be associated with the celebrities. They expect these non-politicians to vote within party lines. The voting in the Federal Convention is secret.[3] From the time of their nomination until the closing of the session of the Federal Convention its members enjoy parliamentary immunity with regard to prosecution by public authorities in very much the same way as members of the Bundestag do.
History
Since 1979, the Bundesversammlung has traditionally met on May 23, the anniversary of the
The most recent assembly of the Bundesversammlung was held on 13 February 2022, where Frank-Walter Steinmeier was re-elected.
Venue
On 12 September 1949, the first Bundesversammlung met in
See also
- Politics of Germany
- Federalism in Germany
- Federal Assembly of Austria
- Federal Assembly of Switzerland
External links
- Distribution of seats in the Bundesversammlung
- Election of the Federal President
- Article 54 – Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz, GG)
- Law on the Election of the President by the Federal Assembly (German)
Notes
- ^ President of the Bundestag (ex officio)
References
- Deutscher Bundestag, retrieved 2014-07-14
- ^ Der Tagesspielge: Diese Promis wählen den neuen Bundespräsidenten, February 12th, 2017, last seen on October 29th, 2020.
- S2CID 159163706.