Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin

The Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin (House of Deputies) (German: [ˈʔapɡəʔɔʁdnətn̩ˌhaʊs]) is the state parliament (Landtag) of Berlin, Germany according to the city-state's constitution. In 1993 the parliament moved from Rathaus Schöneberg to its present house on Niederkirchnerstraße in Mitte, which until 1934 was the seat of the Prussian Landtag. The current president of the parliament is Dennis Buchner (SPD).

Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin
Coat of arms of Berlin
Logo
Type
Type
Established1809
Leadership
President
Cornelia Seibeld, CDU
since 16 March 2023
Structure
Seats159
Political groups
Government (86)
  CDU (52)
  SPD (34)

Opposition (73)

  Greens (34)
  The Left (22)
  AfD (17)
Elections
Last election
12 February 2023
Next election
2026
Meeting place
Preußischer Landtag building
Website
parlament-berlin.de

History
Staircase

The Abgeordnetenhaus was established by the new constitution of West Berlin in 1951. It replaced the former city legislature called Stadtverordnetenversammlung (city deputies assembly), established by the Prussian Reforms in 1808 and re-established by Allied-initiated state elections of 1946.

Between 1951 and 1990 the Abgeordnetenhaus was a parliament of restricted autonomy, since the Allied Control Council required that all its legislation and its elections, such as those of mayors and the senators (then still elected and not yet appointed by the mayor), be subject to Western Allied confirmation or rejection. After reunification the Abgeordnetenhaus continued to be the parliament of united Berlin.

Elections
See also: Elections in Berlin

The parliament of Berlin is chosen every five years in a general, free, secret and direct ballot according to the principle of proportional representation. It consists of at least 130 representatives, 78 chosen directly in the electoral districts of the Berlin boroughs, and 52 indirectly from land or district lists. If a party wins more constituency seats than its overall share of the vote, the overall size of the Abgeordnetenhaus increases because of these overhang mandates.

The current distribution of seats as of the 2021 election (compared to the 2016 election) is:

In 2016, the Pirate Party Berlin lost the 15 seats it won for the first time in the 2011 election due to their failure to cross the 5% election threshold necessary to qualify for representation while the AfD joined the assembly for the first time and the FDP returned following a recovery in voter support.

Functions
Nameplate

The consideration and passing of legislation is the most important task, including the government budget. In addition, the parliament chooses the Governing Mayor, and checks the city's government, the Senate of Berlin.

Citizens can petition the House of Representatives to debate topics via agenda initiatives.[1][2]

Presidents
Name Party Period
Otto Suhr SPD 11 January 1951 – 11 January 1955
Willy Brandt SPD 11 January 1955 – 2 October 1957
Kurt Landsberg SPD 19 October 1957 – 4 March 1958
Willy Henneberg SPD 20 March 1958 – 17 September 1961
Otto Friedrich Bach SPD 29 September 1961 – 6 April 1967
Walter Sickert SPD 6 April 1967 – 24 April 1975
Peter Lorenz CDU 24 April 1975 – 10 December 1980
Heinrich Lummer CDU 10 December 1980 – 11 June 1981
Peter Rebsch CDU 11 June 1981 – 2 March 1989
Jürgen Wohlrabe CDU 2 March 1989 – 11 January 1991
Hanna-Renate Laurien CDU 11 January 1991 – 30 November 1995
Herwig Haase CDU 30 November 1995 – 18 November 1999
Reinhard Führer CDU 18 November 1999 – 29 November 2001
Walter Momper SPD 29 November 2001 – 27 October 2011
Ralf Wieland SPD 27 October 2011 – 4 November 2021
Dennis Buchner SPD 4 November 2021 – present

See also

References
  1. "Berlin, Germany, regional Agenda (setting) initiative [PAX] - Volksinitiative - Navigator". www.direct-democracy-navigator.org. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  2. "Volksinitiative". www.berlin.de (in German). 5 January 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2023.

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