Bundestag facts for kids
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The Bundestag is the main law-making body, or legislature, of Germany. It meets in Berlin, inside the famous Reichstag building. This building was specially rebuilt so the Bundestag could move there from its previous location in Bonn.
Contents
What is the Bundestag?
The Bundestag is where important decisions about Germany are made. It's similar to the House of Commons in the UK or the House of Representatives in the USA. The Bundestag has at least 598 members, but sometimes it has more.
How are Members Chosen?
Every four years, the people of Germany vote to choose who will represent them in the Bundestag.
The Two-Vote System
When Germans vote, they actually cast two votes:
- One vote is for a specific person, called a candidate, in their local area. This is like voting for your local representative.
- The second vote is for a political party. This vote helps decide how many seats each party gets in total.
Winning a Seat
About half of the Bundestag members (299 of them) are chosen directly from local areas. The other half are chosen from party lists in each German state, called a Land.
A political party only gets seats in the Bundestag if it wins at least 5% of the total party votes. The total number of seats a party receives depends on how many "party votes" it gets.
Extra Seats Explained
Sometimes, a party wins more direct seats in local areas than it should get based on its total party votes. When this happens, the party gets to keep these extra seats. These are called extra mandates. Because of these extra mandates, the Bundestag can sometimes have more than 598 members.
To make sure the number of seats for each party is fair, if one party gets extra mandates, the other parties also get some extra seats. This system was changed in 2013 to ensure that every party gets a fair share of seats based on the overall party votes.
Who Leads the Bundestag?
The person in charge of the Bundestag's meetings is called the Bundestag President. They make sure that discussions are fair and follow the rules.
Images for kids
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The German Unity Flag is a national memorial to German Reunification that was raised on 3 October 1990; it waves in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin, seat of the Bundestag
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Bundestag ballot from the 2005 election in the Würzburg district. The column for the constituency vote (with the name, occupation, and address of each candidate) is on the left in black print; the column for the party list vote (showing top five list candidates in the state) is on the right in blue print.
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The Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, one of the official buildings of the complex, housing the parliamentary library
See also
In Spanish: Bundestag para niños
