Parliamentary Dissolution Case

62 BVerfGE 1 (1980)

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Parliamentary Dissolution Case

Germany Federal Constitutional Court
62 BVerfGE 1 (1980)

KS

Facts

In Germany, basic law did not allow the president alone to dissolve the Bundestag (the German parliament), nor did the law allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself. Instead, the president could only dissolve the Bundestag if the chancellor took specific steps. The chancellor must request a vote of confidence, the vote of confidence must fail, and the chancellor must then request the dissolution of parliament. In 1982, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl (defendant) possessed substantial political support. Kohl called for a vote of confidence, which he lost intentionally to create an even more favorable parliament for Kohl’s agenda. After the failure of the no-confidence vote, Kohl requested that German President Karl Carstens dissolve the Bundestag. Carstens dissolved parliament and called for new general elections. Some members of the Bundestag (plaintiffs) brought an “organstreit” proceeding in the Germany Federal Constitutional Court, arguing that the chancellor and president were manipulating the constitution by dissolving the elected parliament through the contrivance of losing a no-confidence vote by a chancellor who had the support of the majority of parliament members. Organstreit proceedings allowed the federal constitutional court to consider and determine disagreements between governmental entities.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)

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