Politics of Germany

Germany
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Germany
Constitution (Basic Law) Human rights Federal Constitutional Court
Executive President Frank-Walter Steinmeier Chancellor (List) Olaf Scholz Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck Cabinet Scholz
Legislature Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung) Federal Council (Bundesrat) Federal Diet (Bundestag) Joint Committee (Gemeinsamer Ausschuss)
Judiciary Federal courts Constitutional Administrative Justice Fiscal Labour Social
Administrative divisions States (Länder) Administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke) Districts (Kreise) Collective municipalities (Ämter) Municipalities (Gemeinden)
Elections Electoral system Political parties Referendums
Foreign relations
Other countries Atlas
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Politics of Germany are based on a federal parliamentary democratic republic. The government is elected by the people in elections where everyone has an equal vote. The constitution is called the Grundgesetz. As well as setting out the rights of the people, it describes the jobs of the President, the Cabinet, the Bundestag, Bundesrat and the Courts.

The President is the head of state. The Federal Chancellor is the head of government, and of the majority group in the legislature (law making body) which is called the Bundestag. Executive power is exercised by the government. The power to make federal law is given to the government and the two parts of parliament, the Bundestag and Bundesrat. The ministers of the government are members of the parliament, and need parliamentary support to stay in power.

From 1949 to 1990, the main political parties were the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with its "sister party", the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). After the reunification of Germany the Green Party and Alliance '90(Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) became more important and was in government between 1999 and 2005. Other important political parties after reunification have been the PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) which was based on East Germany's Socialist Unity Party of Germany. It joined with The Left Party (Die Linkspartei or Die Linke) of western Germany. In 2007 Die Linke and WASG joined together under the leadership of Oskar Lafontaine

As Germany is a federal country, a lot of the work of government is done by the 16 states (Länder). Power is shared between the national (or federal) government and state governments. The national government cannot abolish the state governments.