Germany
Starting with the Frankfurter Nationalversammlung (Frankfurt Parliament) of 1848, all democratic German parliaments had a Father (or Mother) of the House, usually called Alterspräsident (President by right of age).
Under the current constitution (Grundgesetz) of 1949, the Alterspräsident will preside over the Parliament (Bundestag) at the start of each legislative period.
Following tradition, the Alterspräsident will first ascertain himself that he is the oldest member of the Bundestag by stating his birth date and asking if anyone is present who was born before his date. If no older member of the Bundestag is present (which is usually the case) he will formally declare that he indeed is the Alterspräsident and will start proceedings.
As acting President of the Bundestag (Bundestagspräsident) he delivers the first programmatic speech and oversees the elections of the President of the Bundestag and the Vicepresidents of the Bundestag (Bundestagsvizepräsidenten). He then stands down and yields his power to the newly elected Bundestagspräsident. As the position of Father of the House usually draws a certain public attention, the PDS twice nominated old independents (Stefan Heym in 1994, Fred Gebhardt in 1998) to obtain this office. None of them served a complete term (Heym resigned in 1996, Gebhardt died in 2000). This was considered a manipulation.
| Bundestag | Name | Term | Parliamentary group |
Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1949–1953 | Paul Löbe | 1949–1953 | SPD | |
| 2nd | 1953–1957 | Marie Elisabeth Lüders | 1953–1957 | FDP | stood in for Konrad Adenauer, the oldest member, who refused the office due to his position as Chancellor |
| 3rd | 1957–1961 | Marie Elisabeth Lüders | 1957–1961 | FDP | |
| 4th | 1961–1963 | Robert Pferdmenges | 1961–1963 | CDU/CSU | |
| Konrad Adenauer | 1963–1965 | CDU/CSU | resumed the office after his resignation as Chancellor | ||
| 5th | 1965–1967 | Konrad Adenauer | 1965–1967 | CDU/CSU | died in 1967 |
| William Borm | 1967–1969 | FDP | |||
| 6th | 1969–1972 | William Borm | 1969–1972 | FDP | |
| 7th | 1972–1976 | Ludwig Erhard | 1972–1976 | CDU/CSU | |
| 8th | 1976–1980 | Ludwig Erhard | 1976–1977 | CDU/CSU | died in 1977 |
| Johann Baptist Gradl | 1977–1980 | CDU/CSU | |||
| 9th | 1980–1983 | Herbert Wehner | 1980–1983 | SPD | |
| 10th | 1983–1987 | Willy Brandt | 1983–1987 | SPD | stood in for Egon Franke |
| 11th | 1987–1990 | Willy Brandt | 1987–1990 | SPD | |
| 12th | 1990–1994 | Willy Brandt | 1990–1992 | SPD | died in 1992 |
| Alfred Dregger | 1992–1994 | CDU/CSU | |||
| 13th | 1994–1998 | Stefan Heym | 1994–1995 | PDS | resigned his seat in 1995 |
| Alfred Dregger | 1995–1998 | CDU/CSU | |||
| 14th | 1998–2002 | Fred Gebhardt | 1998–2000 | PDS | died in 2000 |
| Hans-Eberhard Urbaniak | 2000–2002 | SPD | |||
| 15th | 2002–2005 | Otto Schily | 2002–2005 | SPD | |
| 16th | 2005–2009 | Otto Schily | 2005–2009 | SPD | |
| 17th | 2009–2013 | Heinz Riesenhuber | since 2009 | CDU/CSU | |
Read more about this topic: Father Of The House
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