Germany is a democratic and federal parliamentary republic, where federal legislative power is vested in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany from 1990 to 1998 and, prior to German reunification, as the chancellor of West Germany from 1982 to 1990. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998 and oversaw the end of the Cold War, the German reunification and the creation of the European Union (EU). Kohl’s 16-year tenure is the longest of any German chancellor since Otto von Bismarck, and is the longest for any democratically elected chancellor of Germany.
The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of state of Germany.
The constructive vote of no confidence is a variation on the motion of no confidence that allows a parliament to withdraw confidence from a head of government only if there is a positive majority for a prospective successor. The principle is intended to ensure governments' stability by making sure that a replacement has enough parliamentary support to govern.
Karl Carstens was a German politician. He served as the president of West Germany from 1979 to 1984.
Herbert Richard Wehner was a German politician. A former member of the Communist Party, he joined the Social Democrats (SPD) after World War II. He served as Federal Minister of Intra-German Relations from 1966 to 1969 and thereafter as chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag until 1983.
Federal elections were held in Germany on 16 October 1994 to elect the members of the 13th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU alliance led by Helmut Kohl remained the largest faction in parliament, with Kohl remaining Chancellor in a narrowly re-elected coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). This elected Bundestag was the largest in history until 2017, numbering 672 members.
Federal elections were held in West Germany on 6 March 1983 to elect the members of the 10th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU alliance led by Helmut Kohl remained the largest faction in parliament, with Kohl remaining Chancellor.
Federal elections were held in West Germany on 19 November 1972 to elect the members of the 7th Bundestag. In the first snap elections since the resumption of democratic elections in 1949, the Social Democratic Party became the largest party in parliament for the first time since 1930, winning 230 of the 496 seats. The coalition with the Free Democratic Party was resumed.
Hildegard Hamm-Brücher was a liberal politician in Germany. She held federal state secretary positions from 1969 to 1972 and from 1977 to 1982. She was the Free Democratic Party's candidate in the first two rounds of the federal presidency elections in 1994.
The Federal Cabinet, or according to the German Basic Law, the Federal Government, is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's organisation, as well as the method of its election and appointment, along with the procedure for its dismissal, are set down in articles 62 through 69 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz).
Rainer Candidus Barzel was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the eighth president of the Bundestag from 1983 to 1984.
Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, known as Otto Graf Lambsdorff, was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He was the German Federal Minister of Economics from 1977 to 1984, when he resigned due to corruption allegations.
Egon Franke was a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as Federal Minister for Intra-German Relations from 1969 to 1982 and, for the short period between the breakup of the SPD-FDP coalition on 17 September 1982 and the constructive vote of no confidence on 1 October of the same year, by which Helmut Kohl replaced Helmut Schmidt, as Vice Chancellor of Germany. With a tenure of 14 days he is, as yet, the vice chancellor with the shortest time in office.
CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties or the Union, is a centre-right Christian democratic and conservative political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU).
Werner Dollinger was a German politician and economist, a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). He served as Federal Minister for the Treasury from 1962 to 1966, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation in 1966, Federal Minister for Post and Telecommunications from 1966 to 1969, and as Federal Minister of Transport from 1982 to 1987.
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany, and the commander-in-chief of the German Armed Forces during wartime. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the federal president and without debate.
The history of Germany from 1990 to the present spans the period following the German reunification, when West Germany and East Germany were reunited after being divided during the Cold War. Germany after 1990 is referred to by historians as the Berlin Republic. This time period is also determined by the ongoing process of the "inner reunification" of the formerly divided country.
The Third Schmidt cabinet was the government of West Germany between 6 November 1980 and 1 October 1982, during the 9th legislature of the Bundestag. Led by the Social Democrat Helmut Schmidt. After the 1980 federal election, incumbent Chancellor Schmidt continued the social-liberal coalition between his SPD and the FDP.
On October 1, 1982, the West German Bundestag debated and passed a motion of no confidence in the government of Helmut Schmidt, the West German Chancellor since 1974, after the coalition agreement between the governing Social Democratic Party and Free Democratic Party had collapsed due to disagreements about economic policy. The motion resulted in the ascension of Christian Democratic Union leader Helmut Kohl as chancellor who would hold office until 1998.
