From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Germany

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Germany

Constitution

Federal Council (Bundesrat) Federal Diet (Bundestag) Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) Constitutional Court Federal Court of Justice

President Horst Köhler Chancellor Angela Merkel Cabinet

States (Länder) Districts (Kreise)

Elections Political parties Former parties

Human rights Foreign relations Politics of the European Union

Other countries · Atlas  Politics Portal view • talk • edit

The Federal Assembly (German: Bundesversammlung) is a special body in the institutional system of Germany, convoked only for the purpose of selecting the Bundespräsident every five years. The Bundesversammlung comprises the entire membership of the Bundestag (the lower house of Germany's parliament) and an equal number of state delegates selected by the state parliaments especially for this purpose, proportionally to their population figures. Among the latter are not only politicians: it is customary for the several states to also nominate celebrities and other prominent or specially deserving people. 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.

Since 1979, the Bundesversammlung has traditionally met on May 23, the anniversary of the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany and the coming-into-force of the Basic Law in 1949. It is chaired by the Speaker of the Bundestag and is dissolved once the elected president declares that he accepts his election, which decision he can delay for up to two days (however, no president has ever done so).

Each member of the Bundesversammlung may suggest candidates for the office of the Federal President. In practice however only the candidates in advance designated by the parliamentary groups are suggested.

The procedure of the election of the Bundespräsident consists of - at the most - 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 in the third and last vote. According to the Grundgesetz, the president is elected without a debate in the federal convention. The candidates are, usually, nominated by one or more parties, but do not run a campaign. The candidate, whose party or parties have the majority, is considered to be the likely winner and mostly, he got the majority. The Speaker of the Bundestag will terminate the Bundesversammlung if the elected candidate accepts.

The last assembly of the Bundesversammlung was held on May 23, 2004, when Horst Köhler was elected by the slight majority of 604 out of 1205 votes.

This Germany-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This government-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.