Landtag of Baden-Württemberg explained

House Type:	Landtag
Landtag of Baden-Württemberg
Native Name:	Landtag von Baden-Württemberg
Legislature:	17th Landtag of Baden-Württemberg
Leader1 Type:	President of the Landtag
Leader1:	Muhterem Aras
Party1:	Alliance 90/The Greens
Leader2 Type:	Vice President
Leader2:	Sabine Kurtz
Party2:	CDU
Members:	154
Structure1:	2021 Baden-Württemberg state election - composition chart.svg
Structure1 Res:	250px
Political Groups1:	Government (100) Greens (58) CDU (42) Opposition (54) SPD (19) FDP (18) AfD (17)
Last Election1:	14 March 2021
Meeting Place:	Stuttgart
Established:	1952

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
	58
	42
	19
Free Democratic Party (FDP/DVP)^[1]	18
	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, 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.

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]

See also

• 2011 Baden-Württemberg state election
• 2016 Baden-Württemberg state election
• Baden Landtag elections in the Weimar Republic (1919–1929)
• Württemberg Landtag elections in the Weimar Republic (1919–1932)

External links

• English Version of the official Webpage

Notes and References

1. In Baden-Württemberg the FDP faction in the Landtag is called FDP/DVP for historical reasons http://www.fdp-dvp-fraktion.de/
2. News: Landtagspräsident will vier Wahlkreise gestrichen werden . Parliament President wants four districts eliminated . 2008-05-31 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927050148/http://www.pz-news.de/suedwest/94751/index.html . 27 September 2007 . dmy-all . . German . 16 August 2007 . Edgar . Neumann.
3. News: First Muslim woman elected as speaker in German state parliament. Lizzie. Dearden. 12 May 2016. The Independent. London.