State Parliament
The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Parliament is elected democratically by the citizens of the Land (state) and, according to Article 20 of the State Constitution of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, it is the "site of political decision-making". The seat of Parliament is the castle in the state capital of Schwerin. Parliament is elected for one 5-year legislative period at a time. Specific details about the functions, composition, elections and working procedures of Parliament are defined in the State Constitution and in Parliament's rules of procedure.
Parliament fulfils three essential functions: One of its duties is to elect the Prime Minister. The election is held not later than four weeks after the constituent assembly of the newly elected Parliament. Furthermore, Parliament has legislative power. It discusses and decides on laws which have been proposed by the government, by at least four members of Parliament or by a people's initiative or a petition for a referendum initiated directly by the people. The third important function of Parliament is to control the state government. For this purpose it disposes of an extensive right to interrogate and to require information.
The fifth Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was elected on 17th September 2006 and held its constituent assembly on 16th October 2006. Parliament consists of 71 members. They are not bound to orders or instructions but are exclusively obliged to reconcile with their consciences.
At least four members of Parliament are required to form a fraction. There are presently five fractions represented in Parliament. The strongest fractions are the Social Democrats (SPD) with 23 seats and the Christian Democrats (CDU) with 22 seats. These parties are followed by the Left Party.PDS with 13 seats and the Free Democrats (FDP) with 7. The fifth fraction in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Parliament is formed by the extreme right-wing Nationalist Party (NPD) with six seats.
More information about the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is available under: