Data Sources

Every fact on Parliament Tracker traces to a specific source record. This page lists all data sources, what they provide, and their licenses.

678 Source records
3 Data systems
2026-07-09 Last data update

How provenance works

Every piece of data displayed on this site is linked to a source record that captures:

  • Source URL — the exact URL the data was retrieved from
  • Retrieved at — the timestamp of retrieval (UTC)
  • Content hash — SHA-256 hash of the raw response, to detect changes
  • License — the data license under which the source is published
  • Extraction method — how the data was parsed (official dataset, API, or protocol parsing)
  • Confidence — our confidence in the extraction accuracy (high, medium, or low)

On individual politician profiles, you can expand the "Source" section on any vote record to see the full provenance chain.

Source systems

System Records Earliest Latest
de.dip 675 2026-07-04 2026-07-08
de.abgeordnetenwatch 2 2026-07-03 2026-07-05
de.opensanctions 1 2026-07-03 2026-07-03

Primary sources (official)

MdB-Stammdaten Official

Provider
German Bundestag
What it provides
Biographical data, mandates, party affiliations, parliamentary group memberships, and electoral areas for all Members of the Bundestag (Mitglieder des Bundestages).
Format
XML (MDB_STAMMDATEN.XML)
License
Public domain / official government data (dl-de/by-2-0)
Coverage
WP18 (2013) through the current parliamentary term
URL
bundestag.de/services/opendata

Bundestag Named Votes Official

Provider
German Bundestag
What it provides
Individual voting positions (yes/no/abstain/absent) for named (roll-call) votes in the Bundestag plenary.
Format
XLSX spreadsheets per voting session
License
Public domain / official government data
Limitation
Only named votes are recorded. Votes by show of hands (the majority of decisions) do not produce individual position records.
URL
bundestag.de/parlament/plenum/abstimmung/liste

Cross-reference sources (non-official)

These sources supplement official data with additional identifiers. They are clearly marked and never overwrite official records.

EveryPolitician / Wikidata Cross-reference

What it provides
Wikidata QIDs for identity linking across systems.
Usage
Internal identity resolution only. QIDs are stored but not displayed to users.
License
CC0 (public domain)

Abgeordnetenwatch.de Cross-reference

What it provides
External identifiers for German MPs, enabling future enrichment with transparency data.
Usage
Identifier cross-referencing only. Does not override official data.
License
CC-BY-4.0
URL
abgeordnetenwatch.de

How to verify our data

  1. Navigate to any politician's profile page.
  2. On any vote record, click "Source" to expand the provenance details.
  3. Follow the source URL to the original parliamentary publication.
  4. Compare the displayed data with the original source.

If you find a discrepancy, please report it.