State Parliament (Germany)

This provision only excludes a constitutional monarchy (as the states have to be republics) and otherwise theoretically allows for a wide range of democratic forms of government.

Since the abolition of the Bavarian Senate in 1999, which had previously been the upper house of a bicameral legislature, all sixteen state parliaments are unicameral.

The electoral system of some states also includes a basic mandate clause which allows parties to be taken into account in the proportional distribution of seats regardless of the 5%-threshold if they win a certain number of constituencies.

This provision is of particular importance in Schleswig-Holstein, where the SSW, a party which represents the minorities of Danes and Frisians, regularly participates in state elections.

Most states have adopted legislative periods of five years, the only exception being Bremen, which still uses four-year-terms (a cross-party attempt to introduce five-year-terms was defeated in a referendum in 2017[1]).