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Index Germany
Flag DescriptionThree equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and gold. Election Type: Parliamentary Election date: 18 September 2005 (last held 22 September 2002) Number of registered voters: 61 388 671 (as at 22 September 2002) Compulsory voting: No GovernmentType: Federal Republic Chief of State: President Horst KOEHLER (since 1 July 2004) Party in Government: Head of Government: Chancellor Gerhard SCHROEDER (since 27 October 1998) Branches: Executive-President (chief of state), Prime Minister (head of government) and Cabinet or Bundesminister (Federal Ministers) are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Chancellor. Legislative—a bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Federal Assembly (Bundestag) and the Federal Council (Bundesrat). The Federal Assembly (Bundestag) has 603 seats and is elected by popular vote under a system combining direct and proportional representation. A party must win five per cent of the national vote or three direct mandates to gain representation. Members serve four-year terms. The Federal Council (Bundesrat–69 votes). State governments are directly represented by votes, with each having three to six votes depending on population. They are required to vote as a block. There are no elections for the Bundesrat. Composition is determined by the composition of the state-level governments. The composition of the Bundesrat has the potential to change any time one of the 16 states holds an election. Judicial-Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht. Half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat. Political parties: Alliance '90/Greens, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU), Free Democratic Party (FDP), Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), Social Democratic Party (SPD). Suffrage: universal at 18 Election results: National summaries of the votes and the seats, from the German Federal Republic elections website, courtesy of Psephos Adam Carr's Election Archive. According to a Spiegel article of 22 September 2005 entitled The death of German conservatism, German voters do not trust political parties to the right of the centre. This article takes an in-depth look at the poor showing by the Christian Democtrats (CDU) and party head Angela Merkel. With no further progress made on creating a governing coalition, the country's pundits are looking at what went wrong for the Christian Democrats in this Spiegel article of 22 September 2005 entitled Dissecting the great Merkel flop. According to a Reuters article entitled German parties in deal to make Merkel chancellor dated 10 October 2005, chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will step aside, making way for Conservative leader Angela Merkel to become Germany's first woman chancellor. This article discusses agreements reached for a power-sharing cabinet in order to break Germany's political deadlock. Also included is commentary on the negotiations between the centre-left and centre-right, the effect of concessions on economic policy, the dilution of the reform mandate, the budget and foreign policy.
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