Landtag of Brandenburg
Landtag of Brandenburg Landtag Brandenburg | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
President | Ulrike Liedtke (SPD) |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 88 |
 | |
Political groups | Government (50)
Opposition (38) |
| Elections | |
Last election | 1 September 2019 |
Next election | 2024 Brandenburg state election |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| City Palace, Potsdam | |
| Website | |
| landtag.brandenburg.de | |
The Landtag of Brandenburg (Brandenburg State Parliament) is the unicameral legislature of the state of Brandenburg in Germany. Its 88 Members of Parliament are usually elected every 5 years.
It is responsable for deciding on state laws, controling the state government and public administration, deciding on the budget and electing its presidium, state constitutional judges, the members of the state court of audit and the minister president.
On September 1st 2019 elections to the 7th Landtag were held. Six political parties managed to gain representation. The SPD became the largest party in the Landtag with 25 seats, followed by the AfD with 23 seats, the CDU with 15 seats, The Greens and the Left with 10 seats each and finally the BVB/FW won 5 seats, making it the smallest party represented in the Landtag.
Elections to the 1st Landtag of Brandenburg were held in 1946 in the Soviet Occupation Zone. The composition of the 2nd Landtag was determined before the 1950 election and only existed until 1952. It has existed in its current form since the recreation of the state of Brandenburg following reunification. Since the 1990 election the SPD has remained the largest party and participated in all state governments since and all minister presidents of the state to this day have been from the SPD. The office has been held by Dietmar Woidke since 28th August 2013.
History
The Landtag of Brandenburg was established in 1946 and abolished in 1952. It was re-established in 1990. The seat of the Parliament is the reconstructed Potsdam City Palace since early 2014. Its former seat was the Military School building on the Brauhausberg, Potsdam, which dates from 1902.
Elections
Elections to the Landtag use a hybrid system whereby the 44 electoral districts return one member each in first-past-the-post votes, and 44 seats are elected by party-list proportional representation. Every German citizen who has been habitually resident in Brandenburg for at least one month prior to the election is entitled to vote.[1]
Each elector has two votes, one for the individual representative of their electoral district and the other for a party list. The proportionally allocated seats are distribruted proportionally based on votes across the state to all parties or political unions on the list that received at least 5% of the vote in a constituency or who have won one or more directly elected seats.[1]
Candidates are required to be over 18 years old, be a citizen of Germany and have lived in the state of Brandenburg for 3 months.[2]
Elections are held every five years, on a Sunday or public holiday between 57 and 60 months after the start of the first legislative period after the previous election.[1]
The most recent election was held on 1 September 2019 and the next elections will be held in 2024. The legislature may be dissolved sooner by a two thirds majority vote, if this happens new elections must be held within 70 days.[3]
Functions
Legislative
One of the functions of the Landtag is to pass state laws. Legislation can be proposed by the state government, MPs, the president of the Landtag, the presidium of the Landtag, parliamentary committees and their parliamentary groups, though it is usually the government that proposes new legislation. Proposed legislation can also be submitted through a popular initiative, assuming it is signed by at least 80000 voting age Brandenburgian citizens. The Landtag is then obligated to treat this initiative just like it would one originating from the state government or its own members. If it fails to do this within two months a referendum is called.[4]
Before being voted on, new legislation is subject to two readings. In the first reading a broad strokes debate regarding the proposal is held. Then it is transfered to one or more parliamentary committees. If multiple committees are involved, one of them largely holds responsibility. In the committees the proposal is reworked and a recomendation given. It is then subject to a second reading, where the proposal is discussed in detail and at the end of which the proposal is voted on. Until the second reading is complete, amendments can be proposed by parliamentary groups or individual members and are voted on be for the proposal is. Proposals are passed with a majority of the members present and voting. Constitutional amendments require a 2/3 majority to pass.
Proposals changing the text of the constitution and the budget are discussed in three readings. A third reading is also held if a parliamentary group or at least 1/5 of MPs request it. For laws to come into force they need to be signed by the president of the Landtag and published in the Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt für das Land Brandenburg ('law and decree gazette for the state of Brandenburg').[5]
Budgeting
Article 101 §3 of the state's constitution grants the Landtag of Brandenburg budgeting powers. According to constitution the budget can be set for one of more years. The budget is prepared by the state government setting the priorities for the next year (or years). The members of the Landtag function have a control function which has the character of a "general review of the work of the state government".[6] They are tasked with checking, changing and approving the proposed budget. At the of every year the minister of finance reports to the Landtag the usage of funds along with state assets and debt. The entire budgetary and economic management of the state and its special assets and businesses are checked by the state court of audit.
Control functions
Additionally the Landtag is tasked with parliamentary control, i.e. the control of the activities of the government and the public administration. This control is implemented through checks, complaints and toleration of state action both after the fact and by formulating recomendations before the fact.[7] Conflicts commonly occur between the government and the parliamentary groups supporting or opposing the government instead of the Landtag as a whole.
Current Composition
The results of the 2019 Landtag elections were as follows:
| Party | Ideology | Votes | % | +/- | Seats | +/- | Seats % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="width: 1px" bgcolor=Template:Social Democratic Party of Germany/meta/color align="center" | | Social Democratic Party (SPD) | Social democracy | 331,238 | 26.2% |  5.7%
|
25 | 5
|
28.4% |
| style="width: 1px" bgcolor=Template:Alternative for Germany/meta/color align="center" | | Alternative for Germany (AfD) | German nationalism | 297,484 | 23.5% |  11.3%
|
23 | 12
|
26.1% |
| style="width: 1px" bgcolor=Template:Christian Democratic Union of Germany/meta/color align="center" | | Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | Christian democracy | 196,988 | 15.6% | 7.4%
|
15 | 6
|
17.0% |
| style="width: 1px" bgcolor=Template:Alliance '90/The Greens/meta/color align="center" | | Alliance '90/The Greens (Grünen) | Green politics | 136,364 | 10.8% | 4.6%
|
10 | 4
|
11.4% |
| style="width: 1px" bgcolor=Template:The Left (Germany)/meta/color align="center" | | The Left (Die Linke) | Democratic socialism | 135,558 | 10.7% | 7.9%
|
10 | 7
|
11.4% |
| Brandenburger Vereinigte Bürgerbewegungen/Freie Wähler (BVB/Freie Wähler) | Direct democracy | 63,851 | 5.0% | 2.3%
|
5 | 2
|
5.7% | |
| style="width: 1px" bgcolor=Template:Free Democratic Party (Germany)/meta/color align="center" | | Free Democratic Party (FDP) | Liberalism | 51,660 | 4.1% | 2.6%
|
0 |  0
|
0% |
| style="width: 1px" bgcolor=Template:Human Environment Animal Protection/meta/color align="center" | | Human Environment Animal Protection (Tierschutzpartei) | Animalism | 32,959 | 2.6% | 2.6%
|
0 | 0
|
0% |
| style="width: 1px" bgcolor=Template:Pirate Party Germany/meta/color align="center" | | Pirate Party Germany (Piraten) | 8,712 | 0.7% | 0.8%
|
0 | 0
|
0% | |
| style="width: 1px" bgcolor=Template:Other/meta/color align="center" | | Others | 10,292 | 0.8% | 0.4%
|
0 | 0
|
0% | |
| Total | 1,280,895 | 100.0% | 88 | |||||
| Blank and invalid votes | 15,789 | 1.2 | ||||||
| Registered voters / turnout | 2,088,592 | 61.3 | ||||||
Presidents of the Landtag of Brandenburg
| Name | Period | Party |
|---|---|---|
| Friedrich Ebert (junior) | November 22, 1946 – 1949 | SED |
| Otto Meier | February, 1949–1952 | SED |
| Herbert Knoblich | October 26, 1990 – October 13, 2004 | SPD |
| Gunter Fritsch | October 13, 2004 – 2014 | SPD |
| Britta Stark | 8 October 2014 – 2019 | SPD |
| Ulrike Liedtke | 25 September 2019 – present | SPD |
See also
- List of Landstag Elector Districts in Brandenburg
- 1999 Brandenburg state election
- 2004 Brandenburg state election
- 2009 Brandenburg state election
- 2014 Brandenburg state election
- 2019 Brandenburg state election
External links
- Official Web site of Landtag Brandenburg (in German)
References
- ^ a b c "Elections - Landtag Brandenburg". www.landtag.brandenburg.de. Redaktion des Landtages Brandenburg. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
- ^ "Elections". Welcome to Parliament. Landtag Brandenburg. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- ^ "Article 62 (Legislative term, new elections)". Constitution of the Land of Brandenburg (PDF). Landtag Brandenburg. 2015.
(2) The Landtag may dissolve itself by a resolution of a majority of two thirds of its members.
(3) If the Landtag is dissolved, new elections shall be held within seventy days. - ^ Präsident des Landtages Brandenburg, 2007, 147.
- ^ Präsident des Landtages Brandenburg, 2007, 148.
- ^ Präsident des Landtages Brandenburg, 2007, 153.
- ^ Präsident des Landtages Brandenburg, 2007, 150.
52°23′16″N 13°03′48″E / 52.38778°N 13.06333°E
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