Landtag of Baden-Württemberg

The Landtag of Baden-Württemberg is the state diet of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. It convenes in Stuttgart and currently consists of 143 members of five political parties. The majority before the 2016 election was a coalition of the Alliance '90/The Greens (Die Grünen) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), supporting the cabinet of Green Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann. The current majority coalition is of the Alliance '90/The Greens (Die Grünen) and the CDU.

Landtag of Baden-Württemberg

Landtag von Baden-Württemberg
15th Landtag of Baden-Württemberg
Established1952
Leadership
President of the Landtag
Vice President
Sabine Kurtz, CDU
Structure
Seats143
Political groups
Government (90)
  •   The Greens (47)
  •   CDU (43)

Opposition (53)

  •   SPD (19)
  •   AfD (18)
  •   FDP (12)
  •   Independent (4)
Elections
Last election
13 March 2016
Next election
March 2021
Meeting place
Stuttgart

Current Composition

After the elections of 13 March 2016, the composition of the Landtag is as follows:

Party Seats
Alliance '90/The Greens (Die Grünen)47
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)43
Social Democratic Party (SPD)19
Alternative for Germany (AfD)18
Free Democratic Party (FDP/DVP)[1]12
Independent4

Elections are conducted using a proportional representation system, with a minimum of 5% vote share to receive any seats. However, there are some exceptions, making the Baden-Württemberg election system one of the most complicated in Germany.[2]

The main difference in their electoral system compared to the federal Bundestag is that there are no list members, making all members local. Proportionality is maintained by parties awarding remaining seats to candidates within a party who didn't win a geographic district, ordered by most to least popular (e.g. a candidate losing with 47% of the vote would be placed ahead of a candidate losing with 20% of votes in their district).

This does mean that a candidate who placed second within their district isn't guaranteed a seat, if other losers in their party were more popular and if their party only needs a small number of seats to maintain proportionality.

Presidents of the Landtag

So far, the presidents of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg have been:

  • 1952–1960 Carl Neinhaus, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 1960–1968 Franz Gurk, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 1968–1976 Camill Wurz, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 1976–1980 Erich Ganzenmüller, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 1980–1982 Lothar Gaa, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 1982–1992 Erich Schneider, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 1992–1996 Fritz Hopmeier, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 1996–2011 Peter Straub, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 2011 Willi Stächele, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 2011–2015 Guido Wolf, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 2015-2016 Wilfried Klenk, Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
  • 2016–present Muhterem Aras, Alliance 90/The Greens[3]

See also

References
  1. In Baden-Württemberg the FDP faction in the Landtag is called FDP/DVP for historical reasons
  2. Neumann, Edgar (16 August 2007). "Landtagspräsident will vier Wahlkreise gestrichen werden" [Parliament President wants four districts eliminated]. Pforzheimer Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2008.
  3. Dearden, Lizzie (12 May 2016). "First Muslim woman elected as speaker in German state parliament". The Independent. London.


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