Parliamentary Glossary
Definitions of parliamentary terms, abbreviations, and concepts used across this site.
- WP / Wahlperiode
- Electoral term (Wahlperiode) — a parliamentary cycle, numbered sequentially. Germany's current term is WP21 (since 2021). Displayed as a badge on votes, mandates, and speeches.
- Drucksache
- Official parliamentary document — includes bills, motions, questions, committee reports, and government responses. Identified by a number like 20/1234 (term/sequence). Shown as a chip on vote detail pages.
- Fraktion
- Parliamentary group — parties that have enough seats form a Fraktion and gain committee positions, speaking time, and research budgets. A party can lose Fraktion status if it falls below the threshold.
- Namentliche Abstimmung
- Named (roll-call) vote — each MP's vote is recorded individually. Most votes are by show of hands (Hammelsprung) and not recorded individually. This site covers only namentliche Abstimmungen.
- OEVK
- Egyéni Választókerület — Hungary's single-member constituency. There are 106 OEVKs, each electing one MP directly. The remaining seats are filled from party lists. The 2026 boundaries are shown on the constituency map.
- Wahl-O-Mat
- Voter advice application run by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) before each election. Parties state their position (agree/disagree/neutral) on 38 policy statements. This site imports those positions to show where parties stood before each election.
- Erststimme / Zweitstimme
- Germany's two-vote system: the Erststimme (first vote) elects a constituency representative directly; the Zweitstimme (second vote) determines each party's share of seats. A constituency MP may enter parliament even if their party does not reach the 5% threshold.
- Mandate vs. representative
- A mandate is one uninterrupted period of parliamentary service. A representative can hold multiple mandates — one per term, or if they re-enter mid-term. The representative count on this site counts unique people; the mandate count includes all service periods.
- Nationalrat motion types
- Austria's Nationalrat records several motion types on MP profiles: Selbständige Anträge (independent motions), Anfragen (written questions to ministers), Entschließungsanträge (resolution motions), and Dringliche Anfragen (urgent questions). These are the main accountability instruments shown when per-MP vote positions are unavailable.