German Presidential Election 2017

[NineBerry]

You vote a direct candidate in your district with the first vote. But the second vote determines how many seats each party gets altogether. There are 299 districts. There is a minimum of 598 seats in Bundestag. But the actual number of seats is usually higher. You will see why in the second example below.

1) Let's say a party A gets 40% of the second vote nationally. It would then be eligible for 0,4 * 598 = 239 seats in Bundestag altogether. Let's assume that party A won 100 districts directly (based on the first vote). This means that the 100 direct winners of party A go to Bundestag plus 239-100 = 139 other candidates from party A.

(The additional candidates come from a list the party members decided on before the election. Direct candidates are usually (bot not always) also on the list of their party. But there are also direct candidates which are not on the list and list candidates that are not direct candidates in any district.)

2) Let's say a party A gets 40% of the second vote nationally. It would then be eligible for 0,4 * 598 = 239 seats in Bundestag altogether. Let's assume that party A won 250 districts directly (based on the first vote). This means that the 250 direct winners of that party A go to Bundestag. But the party is only eligible for 239 seats, it would have 250 - 239 = 11 too many. Now to solve the problem, the total number of seats X is increased until the total number of seats X is so that 0,4 * X = 250. i.e. the total number of seats would then be 625.
The 250 directly elected members of party A go to Bundestag but they would still only represent 40% of Bundestag members because the total number of seats was increased to create proportionality.

This example is very close to reality. The conservative party (Merkel's CDU) often wins many more districts directly than it would be eligible for based on its second votes. So, for example, currently the Bundestag has 631 members.

[JimC]

Is there still a Reichstag to be burned down?

[Hermit]

Is there still a Reichstag to be burned down?

Not much of what stood in 1894 was left by May 1945, but instead of flattening the remaining ruin it was decided in 1956 to rebuild it. The restoration was completed in 1999, and of course the building is no longer named "Reichstag" (Empirial Council). Say hello to Bundestag (Federal Council).

So, the answer is "yes" and "no". Almost a case of "My brother replaced the handle, I replaced the head, but it's still grandfather's axe".



1894




1935




1945




2009

[NineBerry]

The building is still called Reichstag. Only the parliament it houses (since 1999) is called Bundestag.

[Hermit]

The building is still called Reichstag. Only the parliament it houses (since 1999) is called Bundestag.

Ah. Thanks for the correction.

[JimC]

When it burns down this time, they'll find some muslims to blame rather than jews...

[NineBerry]

The fire in the Reichstag was blamed on communists. And it is very probable that it was actually laid by a Dutch communist.

[JimC]

Jews, communists, they're all the same...

[NineBerry]

That's what she said.

[pErvinalia]

Fucking Marxists the lot of them!

[Feck]

Nothing wrong with fucking Marxists as long as they are pretty Marxists .

[JimC]

In Soviet Russia, Marxists fuck you!

[laklak]

Da, tovarisch.

[rainbow]

The building is still called Reichstag. Only the parliament it houses (since 1999) is called Bundestag.

Ah. Thanks for the correction.

Angela Merkel will do a slow strip on public television if she loses, therefore she will win.

[Scot Dutchy]

Nine a great explanation of the German system. Much more complicated than ours but still very democratic something 42 will never understand.

We just have one vote. You can place it on a party or give preference to someone on the list. A simple percentage then determines the number of seats. What could be more simpler and transparent.