Landtag of Baden-Württemberg

Landtag of Baden-Württemberg

*Landtag von Baden-Württemberg*
Landtag of Baden-Württemberg ; Landtag von Baden-Württemberg
15th Landtag of Baden-Württemberg
Type
Type	Landtag
Established	1952
Leadership
President of the Landtag	Muhterem Aras, Alliance 90/The Greens
Vice President	Sabine Kurtz, CDU
Structure
Seats	154
Political groups	Government (100) Greens (58); CDU (42); Opposition (54) SPD (19); FDP (18); AfD (17);
Elections
Last election	14 March 2021
Meeting place
	Stuttgart

The Landtag of Baden-Württemberg is the diet of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It convenes in Stuttgart and currently consists of 154 members of five political parties. The majority before the 2021 election was a coalition of the Alliance 90/The Greens and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), supporting the cabinet of Green Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann.

Current Composition

After the elections of 14 March 2021, the composition of the Landtag is as follows:

Party	Seats
Alliance 90/The Greens	58
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	42
Social Democratic Party (SPD)	19
Free Democratic Party (FDP/DVP)^[1]	18
Alternative for Germany (AfD)	17

Elections are conducted using a mixed-member 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 minimum size of the Landtag is 120 members, of which 70 members are elected in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post voting, and 50 are elected by proportional representation. Overhang and levelling seats may be added.

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 (a Zweitmandat, or "second mandate") 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.

Historical Composition

1st Landtag.
2nd Landtag.
3rd Landtag.
4th Landtag.
5th Landtag.
6th Landtag.
7th Landtag.
8th Landtag.
9th Landtag.
10th Landtag.
11th Landtag.
12th Landtag.
13th Landtag.
14th Landtag.
15th Landtag.
16th Landtag.
17th Landtag.

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, CDU
1968–1976 Camill Wurz, CDU
1976–1980 Erich Ganzenmüller, CDU
1980–1982 Lothar Gaa, CDU
1982–1992 Erich Schneider, CDU
1992–1996 Fritz Hopmeier, CDU
1996–2011 Peter Straub, CDU
2011 Willi Stächele, CDU
2011–2015 Guido Wolf, CDU
2015-2016 Wilfried Klenk, CDU
2016–present Muhterem Aras, Alliance 90/The Greens^[3]

References

^ In Baden-Württemberg the FDP faction in the Landtag is called FDP/DVP for historical reasons [1]
^ 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.
^ Dearden, Lizzie (12 May 2016). "First Muslim woman elected as speaker in German state parliament". The Independent. London.