Member of the German Parliament (german: Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages) is the official name given to a deputy in the

German Bundestag German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the

Reichstag building The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...

in Berlin. In German a member is called ' (Member of the Federal

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

) or officially ' (Member of the German Federal Diet), abbreviated ''MdB'' and attached. Unofficially the term ''Abgeordneter'' (literally: "delegate", i.e. of a certain electorate) is also common (abbreviated ''Abg.'', never follows the name but precedes it). From 1871 to 1918, legislators were known as Member of the Reichstag and sat in the

Reichstag of the German Empire The Reichstag () of the German Empire was Germany's lower house of parliament from 1871 to 1918. Within the governmental structure of the Reich, it represented the national and democratic element alongside the federalism of the Bundesrat and the ...

. In accordance with article 38 of the

Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came in ...

, which is the German constitution, " mbers of the German Bundestag shall be elected in general, direct, free, equal, and secret elections. They shall be representatives of the whole people, not bound by orders or instructions, and responsible only to their conscience." An important though not constitutionally required feature of German parliamentarianism is a slightly modified proportional representation. The 16 federal States of Germany (''Länder'') are represented by the Bundesrat at the former

Prussian House of Lords The Prussian House of Lords (german: Preußisches Herrenhaus) in Berlin was the upper house of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the lower house, the House of Repres ...

, whose members are representatives of the respective ''Länders’'' governments and not directly elected by the people. The

2021 German federal election Federal elections in Germany, Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the List of members of the 20th Bundestag, 20th Bundestag. States of Germany, State elections in 2021 Berlin state election, Berli ...

resulted in the most MPs elected in history, 736.

References

{{Germany-poli-stub Bundestag Parliamentary titles Members of Parliament

See also

References