• Organization and working methods
  • Introduction
  • Beginning of the electoral term
  • Organs of the Bundestag
    • President and Vice-Presidents
    • Secretaries
    • Council of Elders
    • Committees
    • Other committees and similar bodies
    • The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces
  • Plenary sittings
  • Rights of the Bundestag to participate in mixed institutions
  • Membership of executive bodies
• Members
• Legislation
• Information counter
• Databases
• Europe
• International
• Parliamentary Library
• Virtual tour of the Parliament Quarter

• Imprint and copyright

In accordance with Article 40 of the Basic Law, the Bundestag elects from among its ranks a number of Secretaries to assist the President and the Vice-Presidents. It is free to choose how many Secretaries it appoints; in the 15th electoral term (2002-2006), the parliamentary groups agreed on 42.

The President and two Secretaries, one from the governing majority and one from the opposition, form the Chair. The Secretaries assist the President in conducting the sittings by keeping note of Members who wish to speak, recording the formal proceedings and attending to other matters as requested by the President. They play an important role in establishing the outcome of votes in the plenary. In the case of votes, whether by a show of hands or by standing or sitting, the Chair can only decide unanimously whether the majority of votes cast is for or against. Should one member of the Chair be in any doubt, the ballot must be repeated by counting the votes.

The procedure for this (so-called Hammelsprung) is as follows: the President requests the Members to leave the Chamber. At a signal from the President, they re-enter the Chamber from the lobby through one of three doors marked "Yes", "No" and "Abstention" and are counted aloud by the Secretaries. The Secretaries inform the President of the result of their count. The latter then announces the result to the plenary.

The same procedure is used if, prior to a vote, a parliamentary group or at least 31 Members express doubts about the presence of a quorum and its presence is not confirmed unanimously by the Chair. However, so long as no such doubts are expressed, it is assumed that there is a quorum, i.e. that more than half the Members are present. Binding decisions can then by taken by the House.

In the case of recorded votes, where members use voting cards bearing their names, and secret ballots, the Secretaries also count the votes.

A recorded vote is held if demanded by a parliamentary group or at least 31 Members. Generally speaking, such votes are only demanded on major political issues which are hotly disputed in the House. Under the supervision of the Secretaries, all the Members place their voting cards in urns located in front of the government bench, the President's desk and the Bundesrat bench. The plastic voting cards bear the name of each Member, that of his parliamentary group, and either "Yes" (blue), "No" (red) or "I abstain" (white). Once the President declares the vote closed, the votes are counted by the Secretaries. The result is then announced by the President in the Chair. It appears in the minutes of the plenary proceedings, with the way each Member voted being indicated next to his or her name.

In the case of secret ballots, Members are called up by name and given a ballot paper and an envelope by the Secretaries. They go into one of the polling booths provided, where they put a cross on the ballot paper next to the name of their chosen candidate and place the ballot paper in the envelope. They then proceed to one of the ballot boxes where they insert their envelope under the supervision of the Secretaries, who keep a list of Members as they vote.

Secret ballots are used in particular to elect the President of the Bundestag, the Vice-Presidents, the Federal Chancellor and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces. Secret ballots are only held in the case of elections to certain offices, not, however, in the case of bills or motions.