Constitutional body convened solely to elect the President of Germany
Federal Convention
Bundesversammlung
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Established
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bundestag.de
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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
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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
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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
election
of the
Bundesprasident
consists of a maximum of three secret
votes
by written
ballot
. If one of the first two votes ends with an
absolute majority
for one of the candidates, this candidate is elected immediately. If the first two votes do not lead to an absolute majority, a
plurality
is sufficient on the third and final vote. The President of the
Bundestag
closes the session of the
Bundesversammlung
once the elected candidate accepts. Thus, the convention is irrevocably dissolved until it is reconvened for the next election. This means that even if the elected president were to resign only a few hours after accepting the election, the convention could not simply reconvene; rather, the president of the Bundestag would have to call a new convention, for which the state parliaments would first have to elect electors again.
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
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The
Bundesversammlung
includes the entire membership of the
Bundestag
, and an equal number of state delegates elected by the
state
or 'Lander' 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
Jogi Low
, the coach of the
national football team
, for the Green Party in Baden-Wurttemberg and
Olivia Jones
, Germany's most famous
drag queen
, for the Green Party in Lower Saxony. Semiya ?im?ek, daughter of a
NSU terror
victim, was elected by Die Linke in Thuringia.
[2]
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
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Since 1979, the
Bundesversammlung
has traditionally met on May 23, the anniversary of the
Basic Law
(1949). This has changed since the resignations of former presidents
Horst Koehler
and
Christian Wulff
.
The
most recent assembly
of the
Bundesversammlung
was held on 13 February 2022, where
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
was re-elected.
Venue
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On 12 September 1949, the first
Bundesversammlung
met in
Bonn
, which served as the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany before reunification with East Germany. From 1954 to 1969 the
Bundesversammlung
was convened at the Ostpreußenhalle in
Berlin
, leading to protests from the
German Democratic Republic
on each occasion it met. As a consequence, on March 5, 1969, the
Soviet Union
sent
MiG-21
warplanes to fly over the venue in
West Berlin
. From 1974 to 1989, the
Bundesversammlung
met in the Beethovenhalle in
Bonn
. Since 1994, the meeting place has been the
Reichstag building
in Berlin. After the renovation of the Reichstag, the German
Bundestag
moved to the building in April 1999. Since the meeting of the
Bundesversammlung
held in May 1999, the body has convened in the
plenary chamber
at the Reichstag building, except that the 2022
Bundesversammlung
took place at the Paul-Lobe-Haus in Berlin, with delegates spread over several floors, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
See also
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External links
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Notes
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- ^
President of the Bundestag (ex officio)
References
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