My take on the election...

[elfs]

I am not happy that the Democrats have taken the House, and will probably take the Senate. I am happy that we have a divided government where each party is deeply suspicious and resentful of the other. I would rather there be bloodletting and recrimination on Capitol Hill than that there be more laws passed. I just wish we had more than a simple two-party system where each party basically runs to corruption and then the other party takes over by portraying themselves as "what those guys should have been before they became corrupt." Lather, rinse, repeat.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

That's not quite how it works... see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Germany#Election_system

Federal Republic of Germany

Election system

Germany elects on federal level a legislature. The parliament has two chambers. The Federal Diet (Bundestag) nominally has 598 members, elected for a four 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 additional member system. Voters vote once for a constituency representative, and a second time for a party, and the lists are used to make the party balances match the distribution of second votes. In the current parliament there are 16 overhang seats, giving a total of 614. This is caused by larger parties winning additional single-member districts above the totals determined by their proportional party vote.

Germany has a multi-party system, with two strong parties and some other third parties that are electorally successful.

Elections are conducted every 4 years, with the exact date of the election chosen by the outgoing government. The Bundestag can be dismissed and a new election called before the four year period has ended, but this usually only occurs in the case of a government losing its majority.

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.

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