Current Article: Elections in Germany : Quick Review

The German federal election, 2009 took place on 27 September 2009 to elect the members of the Bundestag which is the federal parliament of Germany.
Structure of German Parliament

• Germany parliament has two chambers viz. Federal Diet (Bundestag) & Federal Council ((Bundesrat) .
• Federal Diet (Bundestag)

Federal Diet (Bundestag) nominally has 598 members who are elected for a 4 year term. 299 members elected in single-seat constituencies according to first-past-the-post, while a further 299 members are allocated from statewide party lists to achieve a proportional distribution in the legislature, conducted according to a system of proportional representation called the Mixed member proportional representation system. In the current parliament there are 16 overhang seats, giving a total of 614.

• Federal Council

The Federal Council (Bundesrat) has 69 members representing the governments of the states

Party System in Germany:
Germany has a multi-party system, with two strong parties and some other third parties that are electorally successful. Major Political parties & their leaders are as follows:

• Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria [CDU/CSU] – Angela Merkel
• Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD] – Frank-Walter Steinmeier
• Free Democratic Party [FDP] – Guido Westerwelle
• The Left – Gregor Gysi and Oskar Lafontaine

Voting Eligibility:
German nationals over the age of 18 are eligible to vote, including most Germans resident outside Germany, and eligibility for candidacy is essentially the same as eligibility to vote.

German Political System :

The graphic below shows the outline of German Political System:

picture credit : wikipedia.org

Elections 2009:

• The German federal election, 2009 took place on 27 September 2009 to elect the members of the Bundestag.
• German voters gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a second term in an election and a mandate to form a new government with the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) that is expected to cut taxes to boost growth.
• The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU), and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) have announced their intention to form a centre-right government with Angela Merkel of the CDU remaining as Chancellor.
• The leader of the FDP, Guido Westerwelle, is expected to become Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor.

Top Political Parties:

The top 4 parties emerged are as under:

1. Christian Democratic Union 194 (+14)
2. Christian Social Union of Bavaria 45 (-1)
3. Social Democratic Party of Germany 146 (-76)
4. Free Democratic Party 93 (+32)
5. The Left 76 (+22)
6. Greens 68 (+17)
7. The three CR parties have 332 seats and they need 312 to govern so a comfortable majority.

Results in Graphics:

Image Credit : www.bundeswahlleiter.de
What Next ?

• Angela Merkel now would resist pressure for radical reforms from her likely new coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, and would stick to a path of gradual change.
• The ruling coalition now will start negotiations soon on sealing a centre-right coalition deal, which will include tax cuts for German people who are Europe’s biggest economy.
• It is worth note that Angela’s party’s election promise of tax cuts worth 15 billion euros ($22.03 billion) will now require to fix a timetable for the fullfillment of the promise.

Possible Conflicts with FDP:

• FDP seems to be more ambitious and there may be a possibility of conflict which may include the scale and timing of tax cuts, how to curb a bulging budget deficit, and FDP proposals to make it easier to hire and fire workers apart from a broader working perspectives and comfortable number of ministers.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2009