All
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
residents who are 16 years and older, hold
EU citizenship
The European Union citizenship is a legal status afforded to all nationals of member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU ci ...
, have lived there for three months and were registered six weeks before the election
are eligible to vote for the districts' assemblies. In order to be eligible to vote for the
parliament of Berlin (''Abgeordnetenhaus''), one has to be 18 years old and hold
German citizenship
German nationality law details the conditions by which an individual is a national of Germany. The primary law governing these requirements is the Nationality Act, which came into force on 1 January 1914. Germany is a member state of the Euro ...
, too. Only those under disability or in psychiatric wards are excluded. Courts of justice also have the possibility to revoke the right to vote.
Elections are held about every five years. The
Senate of Berlin
The Senate of Berlin (; unofficially: ) is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the Constitution of Berlin the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to ten ...
decides the exact date of the election for the Abgeordnetenhaus, which is usually the same as for the assemblies of the twelve
districts of Berlin. The last state election was held on Sunday, 18 September 2016.
Elections to the Abgeordnetenhaus
The first general, direct and democratic elections to the Abgeordnetenhaus were held in
West Berlin
West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
on 3 December 1950. On 2 December 1990 the first Abgeordnetenhaus election for all Berlin was held. Since 1979, voters have had two votes: one for a deputy from the 78 constituencies and one for a list, usually a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
. Hence the Abgeordnetenhaus has a minimum of 130 seats, but usually more seats are won. Originally the
d'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...
was used, but since 1979 the
Hare-Niemeyer Party-list proportional representation
Apportionment methods
The quota or divide-and-rank methods make up a category of Apportionment (politics), apportionment rules, i.e. algorithms for allocating seats in a legislative body among multiple grou ...
method is used to determine the number of seats for lists.
Dates of elections to the Abgeordnetenhaus
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3 December 1950
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5 December 1954
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7 December 1958
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17 February 1963
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12 March 1967
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14 March 1971
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2 March 1975
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18 March 1979
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10 May 1981
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10 March 1985
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29 January 1989
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2 December 1990
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22 October 1995
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10 October 1999
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21 October 2001
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17 September 2006
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18 September 2011
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18 September 2016
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26 September 2021
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12 February 2023
Constituencies and voting districts (as of 24 September 2010)
Within the voting districts the constituencies are numbered consecutively. The constituencies for elections to the House of Deputies (Abgeordnetenhaus) are the same as for the District Assemblies (Bezirksverordnetenversammlungen). Whereas the voting districts are roughly equivalent to the constituencies for the elections to the Federal Diet (Bundestag).
See also
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2013 Berlin energy referendum
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2021 Berlin referendum
External links
Office of the Election Supervisor
{{Berlin