the president on the recommendation of the chancellor
elections: president elected for a five-year term (eligible for a
second term) by a Federal Convention, including all members of the
Federal Assembly and an equal number of delegates elected by the
state parliaments; election last held 23 May 2004 (next to be held
23 May 2009); chancellor elected by an absolute majority of the
Federal Assembly for a four-year term; Bundestag election last held
22 November 2005 (next to be held November 2009)
election results: Horst KOEHLER elected president; received 604
votes of the Federal Convention against 589 for Gesine SCHWAN;
Angela MERKEL elected chancellor; vote by Federal Assembly 397 to
202 with 12 abstentions

Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Federal Assembly
or Bundestag (614 seats; elected by popular vote under a system
combining direct and proportional representation; a party must win
5% of the national vote or three direct mandates to gain
proportional representation and caucus recogntion; members serve
four-year terms) and the Federal Council or Bundesrat (69 votes;
state governments are directly represented by votes; each has three
to six votes depending on population and are required to vote as a
block)
elections: Federal Assembly - last held 18 September 2005 (next to
be held September 2009); note - 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
election results: Federal Assembly - percent of vote by party -
CDU/CSU 35.2%, SPD 34.3%, FDP 9.8%, Left 8.7%, Greens 8.1%; seats by
party - CDU/CSU 225, SPD 222, FDP 61, Left 53, Greens 51, and
independents 2

Judicial branch:
Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht (half the
judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat)

Political parties and leaders:
Alliance '90/Greens [Claudia ROTH and Reinhard BUETIKOFER];
Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Angela MERKEL]; Christian Social
Union or CSU [Edmund STOIBER, chairman]; Free Democratic Party or
FDP [Guido WESTERWELLE, chairman]; Left Party.PDS (Linkspartei.PDS)
[Lothar BISKY]; note - a merger with the Electoral Alternative-Work
and Social Justice or WASG [Klaus ERNST] is planned for summer 2007;