Bundestag (Germany)

German Bundestag (Federal Diet) Deutscher Bundestag
18th Bundestag
History
Established	1949
Preceded by	Nazi Reichstag 1933–1945 Volkskammer (East Germany) 1949–1990
Leadership
President of the Bundestag	Norbert Lammert, CDU Since 18 October 2005
Vice-Presidents of the Bundestag	Edelgard Bulmahn, SPD Since 22 October 2013
	Petra Pau, The Left Since 7 April 2006
	Claudia Roth, Alliance '90/The Greens Since 22 October 2013
	Ulla Schmidt, SPD Since 22 October 2013
	Johannes Singhammer, CSU Since 22 October 2013
Structure
Seats	630
Political groups	Government (503) Union (310)      CDU (254)      CSU (56)      SPD (193) Opposition Parties (127)      The Left (64)      The Greens (63)
Elections
Voting system	Personalised Proportional Representation (MMP)
Last election	22 September 2013
Next election	24 September 2017
Meeting place
Reichstag building Mitte, Berlin, Germany
Website
www.bundestag.de

Government (503)

Opposition Parties (127)

The Bundestag (German pronunciation: [ˈbʊndəstaːk], "Federal Diet") is a constitutional and legislative body at the federal level in Germany. For its similar function, it is often described as a lower house of parliament along the lines of the US House of Representatives and the Canadian or the British House of Commons. The German constitution, however, does not define the Bundestag and the Bundesrat as the lower and upper houses of a bicameral legislature.

The Bundestag was established by chapter III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Constitution) in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany and thus the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag.

Since 1999 it has met in the Reichstag Building in Berlin. Norbert Lammert is the current President of the Bundestag. Members (Mitglieder des Bundestages) of the Bundestag are usually elected every four years by all adult German citizens in a mixed system of constituency voting and list voting. There are currently 631 seats, however one, belonging to the CDU, remains vacant. However, the election day can be earlier if the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) loses a vote of no confidence and asks the Federal President (Bundespräsident) to dissolve the Bundestag in order to hold new general elections.

In the 19th century the name Bundestag was the unofficial designation for the assembly of the sovereigns and mayors of the Monarchies and Free Cities which formed the German Confederation (1815–1866). Its seat was in the Free City of Frankfurt on the Main.