Editing Father of the House (section)

==Germany==
{{Main|President by right of age of the Bundestag}}
Starting with the Frankfurter Nationalversammlung ([[Frankfurt Parliament]]) of 1848, and based on older regional traditions, basically all German nation-wide, state-level and lower parliaments had a father of the House at the start of each legislative period, usually called ''Alterspräsident'' (President by right of age). This [[Politician|elder statesman]] steps forward to break the tie among equal members, to open the proceedings and to arrange the very first self-organizing election without external help from e.g. parliament employees. Then, the elected president takes over. 

This tradition was continued from the [[North German Confederation]] into the 1871 [[German Empire]] (also known as [[Weimar Republic]] after 1918) and, after being discontinued in [[Nazi Germany]], was resumed in 1949 by the present Parliament ([[Bundestag]]) in the [[Germany|Federal Republic]] until it was discontinued again before the [[2017 German federal election]] to prevent any member of the upcoming [[Alternative for Germany]] (AfD), or any other new party, as the position was changed to refer to the longest sitting member. Thus the meaning of ''Alter'' (age, literally oldness) was shifted from ''Lebensalter'' (age of life) to ''Dienstalter'' (age of service).

In accordance with tradition up to 2013, the ''Alterspräsident'' first ascertained himself that he was indeed the oldest member of the Bundestag by stating his date of birth and asking if anyone is present who was born before this date. If no older member of the Bundestag was present he would formally declare that he indeed is the Alterspräsident and will start proceedings. Starting from 2017, the prospective Alterspräsident states the number of years served in the Bundestag and asks if anyone has served more years.

The ''Alterspräsident'' then greets the present members and delivers the first programmatic speech. After appointing members to write down notes, the identity, affiliation to parties or factions and number of members is checked. The largest faction usually is asked who they propose as candidate for president, and according to another tradition, this candidate is then elected without much controversy. After supervising the election of the [[President of the Bundestag]] the ''Alterspräsident'' immediately yields his power to the elected president who, after receiving congratulations, takes over. The newly elected president will in turn supervise the elections of the Vice Presidents who form the [[Presidium of the Bundestag]] that organizes parliament sessions. Usually, each recognized faction proposes a candidate that is elected without much controversy. Since 2017, none of over 40 AfD candidates has been elected as Bundestags-Vizepräsident, though, while some state parliaments have elected an AfD vice president. In addition, the factions appoint members for the ''Ältestenrat'', the [[Council of Elders of the Bundestag]], which organizes the parliament work behind the scenes. 

The rules of order of the Bundestag also state that the ''Alterspräsident'' shall preside over sessions of the Bundestag at any given time during a legislative period, if the whole Presidium (i.e. the President and the Vice Presidents of the Bundestag) is altogether unable to perform its duties. With the number of vice presidents growing over time, this became unlikely.

As the ''Alterspräsident'''s opening speech usually draws a certain amount of public attention, the position has recently attracted controversy, when after German Reunification the [[Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)|Party of Democratic Socialism]] (the successor of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] which had ruled communist East Germany) obtained the position by including aged independents (writer [[Stefan Heym]] in 1994, [[Fred Gebhardt]] in 1998) in their party lists. In 2017, facing the new AfD, the Bundestag changed its rules of procedure to have the member with the longest service in the Bundestag serve as father of the house, rather than the oldest member;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bundestag.de/parlament/aufgaben/rechtsgrundlagen/go_btg/go01-245154|title=Deutscher Bundestag - I. Wahl des Präsidenten, der Stellvertreter und Schriftführer|website=Deutscher Bundestag}}</ref> however, these changed rules of procedure nonetheless allowed [[Gregor Gysi]] of [[Die Linke]] (the successor of the PDS, of which he was the founder and inaugural leader) to attain this position.

{|class="wikitable"
|+Alterspräsidenten of the German Bundestag
|-
!colspan="2" | Bundestag
!Name
!Term
!align="center" | Parliamentary<br />party
!Notes
|-
| 1 ||1949–1953 || [[Paul Löbe]]<br /><small>(1875–1967)</small>|| 1949–1953 || [[Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands|SPD]] || longtime [[Presidium of the Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstagspräsident]] during the [[Weimar Republic]]
|-
| 2 ||1953–1957 || [[Marie Elisabeth Lüders]]<br /><small>(1878–1966)</small>|| 1953–1957 || [[Freie Demokratische Partei|FDP]] || rowspan="3" | stood in for [[Konrad Adenauer]], the oldest member, who refused the position due to his position as Chancellor
|-
| 3 ||1957–1961 || Marie Elisabeth Lüders || 1957–1961 || FDP
|-
|rowspan="2" | 4 || rowspan="2" | 1961–1965 || [[Robert Pferdmenges]]<br /><small>(1880–1962)</small> || 1961–1962|| [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|CDU]]
|-
| [[Konrad Adenauer]]<br /><small>(1876–1967)</small> || 1963–1965 || CDU|| assumed the position after his resignation as Chancellor{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}
|-
|rowspan="2" | 5 ||rowspan="2" | 1965–1969 || Konrad Adenauer || 1965–1967 || CDU|| died in 1967
|-
| [[William Borm]]<br /><small>(1895–1987)</small> || 1967–1969 || [[Freie Demokratische Partei|FDP]] ||
|-
| 6 || 1969–1972 || William Borm || 1969–1972 || FDP ||
|-
| 7 || 1972–1976 || [[Ludwig Erhard]]<br /><small>(1897–1977)</small> || 1972–1976 || [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|CDU]] ||
|-
|rowspan="2" | 8 || rowspan="2" | 1976–1980 ||Ludwig Erhard || 1976–1977 || CDU || died in 1977
|-
| [[Johann Baptist Gradl]]<br /><small>(1904–1988)</small> || 1977–1980 || CDU ||
|-
| 9 || 1980–1983 || [[Herbert Wehner]]<br /><small>(1906–1990)</small> || 1980–1983 || [[Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands|SPD]] ||
|-
| 10 || 1983–1987 || [[Willy Brandt]]<br /><small>(1913–1992)</small> || 1983–1987 || SPD|| stood in for [[Egon Franke (politician)|Egon Franke]], who refused the position because of criminal investigations conducted against him at the beginning of the legislative period
|-
| 11 || 1987–1990 || Willy Brandt || 1987–1990 || SPD ||
|-
|rowspan="2" | 12 || rowspan="2" | 1990–1994 || Willy Brandt || 1990–1992 || SPD || died in 1992
|-
| [[Alfred Dregger]]<br /><small>(1920–2002)</small> || 1992–1994 || [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|CDU]] ||
|-
|rowspan="2" | 13 ||rowspan="2" | 1994–1998 || [[Stefan Heym]]<br /><small>(1913–2001)</small> || 1994–1995 || [[Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)|PDS]] || resigned his seat in 1995
|-
| [[Alfred Dregger]] <small>(1920–2002)</small>|| 1995–1998 || [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|CDU]] ||
|-
|rowspan="2" | 14 ||rowspan="2" | 1998–2002 || [[Fred Gebhardt]]<br /><small>(1928–2000)</small> || 1998–2000 || [[Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)|PDS]] || died in 2000
|-
| [[Hans-Eberhard Urbaniak]]<br /><small>(born 1929)</small> || 2000–2002 || [[Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands|SPD]] ||
|-
| 15 || 2002–2005 || rowspan="2" | [[Otto Schily]]<br /><small>(born 1932)</small> || 2002–2005 || SPD ||
|-
| 16 || 2005–2009 || 2005–2009 || SPD ||
|-
| 17 || 2009–2013 || rowspan="2" | [[Heinz Riesenhuber]]<br /><small>(born 1935)</small> || 2009–2013 || [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|CDU]] ||
|-
| 18 || 2013–2017 || 2013–2017 || CDU||
|-
| 19 || 2017–2021 || [[Hermann Otto Solms]]<br /><small>(born 1940, member of parliament for 33 years, 1980–2013 and 2017–2021)</small> || 2017–2021 || FDP || The first father of the house under the changed rules of procedure. Stood in for [[Wolfgang Schäuble]] (member of parliament for 45 years, since 1972), who was nominated (and subsequently elected) President of the Bundestag, so that he would not have to preside over his own election.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 20 || rowspan="2" | 2021–2025 || [[Wolfgang Schäuble]]<br /><small>(1942–2023, member of parliament 1972–2023)</small> || 2021–2023 || CDU || 
|-
| [[Peter Ramsauer]]<br /><small>(born 1954, member of parliament since 1990)</small> || 2023–2025 || CSU ||
|-
| 20 || since 2025 || [[Gregor Gysi]]<br /><small>(born 1948, member of parliament for 32 years, 1990–2002 and since 2005)</small> || 2025– || Die Linke ||
|}