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✶ Germany · Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of 23 May 1949

A chancellor,
sixteen Länder.

Germany is a federal parliamentary republic. Voters elect only the Bundestag and their Landtage; the Bundestag elects the Chancellor, the Länder governments form the Bundesrat, and a convention of both elects the President.

Bundestag · Art. 38–48 GG

The people
above the chamber.

The Bundestag sits in the Reichstag building, burned in 1933, left a ruin and rebuilt for the reunited parliament in 1999. Norman Foster's glass dome is open to the public: visitors climb two spiral ramps and look down on the plenary, a building's version of Art. 20(2): Alle Staatsgewalt geht vom Volke aus.

Members
630, elected for four years; next election between 25 January and 25 March 2029 (Art. 39)
President
Julia Klöckner (CDU), elected 25 March 2025
Groups
SPD 120 · CDU/CSU 208 · Linke 64 · Grüne 85 · AfD 150 · Non-attached 3
Majority
316 of 630 (the Kanzlermehrheit); two-thirds, 420, amends the Basic Law with 46 Bundesrat votes
All 630 members →

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The cupola over the plenary: 630 seats coloured by parliamentary group today (left to right from the President's chair: Left, SPD, Greens, CDU/CSU, AfD) · model after Foster + Partners

Federal government · 4 November 2026

Merz and
seventeen ministers.

CDU, CSU and SPD signed their coalition agreement on 5 May 2025. Merz fell six votes short of 316 in the first ballot on 6 May and was elected the same afternoon with 325.

  • Friedrich Merz CDU
    Chancellor
  • Lars Klingbeil SPD
    Finance; Vice-Chancellor
  • Alexander Dobrindt CSU
    Interior
  • Johann Wadephul CDU
    Foreign Affairs
  • Boris Pistorius SPD
    Defence
  • Katherina Reiche CDU
    Economic Affairs and Energy
  • Dorothee Bär CSU
    Research, Technology and Space
  • Stefanie Hubig SPD
    Justice and Consumer Protection
  • Karin Prien CDU
    Education, Family, Seniors, Women and Youth
  • Alexander Schweitzer SPD
    Labour and Social Affairs · since 13 October 2026
  • Karsten Wildberger CDU
    Digital Affairs and State Modernisation
  • Steffen Bilger CDU
    Transport · since 29 July 2026
  • Carsten Schneider SPD
    Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
  • Carsten Linnemann CDU
    Health · since 29 July 2026
  • Alois Rainer CSU
    Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity
  • Reem Alabali Radovan SPD
    Economic Cooperation and Development
  • Verena Hubertz SPD
    Housing, Urban Development and Building
  • Nina Warken CDU
    Head of the Chancellery (special tasks) · since 29 July 2026

Photos: Friedrich Merz — Stenbocki maja from Estonia, CC BY 4.0 · Alexander Dobrindt — CSU-Landesleitung, CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Johann Wadephul — Foto-AG Gymnasium Melle, CC BY 3.0 · Katherina Reiche — Grunpfnul, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Stefanie Hubig — © European Union, 1998 – 2025, Attribution · Karin Prien — User:GPSLeo, CC BY 4.0 · Alexander Schweitzer — Sven Teschke, CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Karsten Wildberger — © European Union, 1998 – 2025, Attribution · Steffen Bilger — Alle Bildrechte liegen bei Steffen Bilger. Fotograf ist Tobias Koch., CC BY-SA 4.0 · Carsten Schneider — photothek.net, CC BY 4.0 · Alois Rainer — Tobias Koch, CC BY-SA 3.0 . Via Wikimedia Commons.

Reshuffles

  • 18 July 2026 — Jens Spahn resigns as leader of the CDU/CSU group; Thorsten Frei leaves the Chancellery to succeed him, Nina Warken moves from Health to the Chancellery and Carsten Linnemann becomes Health Minister.
  • 29 July 2026 — Patrick Schnieder asks to be dismissed as Transport Minister; Steffen Bilger replaces him. The new ministers were sworn in only on 8 September, after the summer recess.
  • 13 October 2026 — Bärbel Bas (SPD co-leader) resigns as Labour Minister; Alexander Schweitzer, the former Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, succeeds her.

bundesregierung.de ↗

Art. 63, 67, 68 GG

Electing and
removing a chancellor.

  1. The President proposes

    The Bundestag votes without debate, by secret ballot. 316 votes, a majority of all members, elect.

  2. Fourteen days

    If the nominee fails, the Bundestag may elect anyone with the same majority within 14 days, in as many ballots as it likes.

  3. The most votes

    After that, one more ballot: the most votes wins. Without 316, the President chooses within seven days: appoint a minority chancellor or dissolve the Bundestag.

  4. Only by electing a successor

    The Bundestag can remove a chancellor only by electing another with 316 votes: the constructive vote of no confidence, written in 1949 so that no government falls without a new one (Art. 67).

Try a ballot

Confidence and no confidence since 1949

Bundesrat · Art. 50–53 GG

The Länder
in Berlin.

The second chamber is not elected: each Land government sends members and casts 3 to 6 votes en bloc, by population. Laws that touch the Länder need its consent; for the rest it can object, and the Bundestag can override. The federal coalition does not control it.

Parties backing the bill
  • SH Schleswig-Holstein
  • HH Hamburg
  • NI Lower Saxony
  • HB Bremen
  • NW North Rhine-Westphalia
  • HE Hesse
  • RP Rhineland-Palatinate
  • BW Baden-Württemberg
  • BY Bavaria
  • SL Saarland
  • BE Berlin *
  • BB Brandenburg
  • MV Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania *
  • SN Saxony
  • ST Saxony-Anhalt *
  • TH Thuringia

0 yes of 69 ·

* caretaker government until a new one is elected after the 2026 vote. The stance rule is the usual coalition clause; Länder can and do agree otherwise case by case.

Federal President · Art. 54–61 GG

Chosen by
a convention.

The President signs laws, appoints the chancellor and ministers, and can dissolve the Bundestag only in the two cases the Basic Law names. The Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung) elects the President: the 630 members of the Bundestag and 630 delegates chosen by the 16 Landtage in proportion to population. A majority of its 1 260 members elects in the first two ballots, the most votes in the third.

The 18th Federal Convention meets on 30 January 2027. Frank-Walter Steinmeier cannot stand again. No woman has held the office.

Federal President since 19 March 2017

Frank-Walter Steinmeier

Re-elected 13 February 2022; his second and last term ends on 18 March 2027.

Photos: Frank-Walter Steinmeier — Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, CC BY 4.0 . Via Wikimedia Commons.

Karlsruhe · Art. 92–94 GG

The Constitutional
Court.

Länder and local government

Sixteen states,
11 000 municipalities.

The Länder run schools, police, universities and most administration, and carry out federal law. Three are city-states (Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen). Below them sit some 400 districts and cities and about 10 750 municipalities.

Photos: Daniel Günther — Staatskanzlei Schleswig-Holstein, Presse- und Informationsstelle der Landesregierung, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Peter Tschentscher — Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Olaf Lies — MW, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Andreas Bovenschulte — Superbass, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hendrik Wüst — Estonian Foreign Ministry, CC BY 2.0 · Boris Rhein — Hessischer Landtag, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gordon Schnieder — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Cem Özdemir — Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Markus Söder — PantheraLeo1359531, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dietmar Woidke — Olaf Kosinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Manuela Schwesig — Ralf Roletschek, GFDL 1.2 · Michael Kretschmer — Sandro Halank , Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mario Voigt — Original: Steffen Prößdorf ; Derivative work: Nagae Iku, CC BY-SA 4.0 . Via Wikimedia Commons.

Länder on the map →