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The Free State of Bavaria Today

The Free State of Bavaria was reconstituted after a decree by the US occupying forces on September 19, 1945. Today's Bavarian constitution was adopted in a plebiscite held on December 1, 1946. At the same time the first post-war Bavarian parliament was elected. The federal states took precedence in the political reorganization of Germany, and even after the creation of the German Federal Republic in 1949 the states were able to retain their independent rights.

Bavaria exerts a double influence on federal policy: firstly via the "Bundesrat" legislative body, in which the Bavarian state government has 6 out of 69 votes, and secondly via the MPs in the German Bundestag, who are elected by the Bavarian people.