The German Federal Election Explained | Feli from Germany
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 พ.ค. 2024
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Resources:
Live election updates: www.dw.com/en/german-election...
How German elections work: www.deutschland.de/en/topic/p...
Merkel's successor: www.deutschland.de/en/topic/p...
Post-Merkel government: www.dw.com/en/german-election...
Potential coalitions: www.dw.com/en/german-election...
Germany’s far-right party AfD: www.dw.com/en/the-afd-in-saxo...
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0:00 Intro
3:34 Basics & Hard Facts
5:54 How does the German election system work?
7:20 What does the ballot look like?
9:20 What's the impact of the election?
11:11 What happens after the election?
13:00 Who is running?
17:41 Outro
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ABOUT ME: Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli), I'm 27, and I'm a German living in the USA! I was born and raised in Munich, Germany but have been living in Cincinnati, Ohio off and on since 2016. I first came here for an exchange semester during my undergrad at LMU Munich, then I returned for an internship, and then I got my master's degree in Cincinnati. I was lucky enough to win the Green Card lottery and have been a permanent resident since 2019! In my videos, I talk about cultural differences between America and Germany, things I like and dislike about living here, and other experiences that I have made during my time in the States. Let me know what YOU would like to hear about in the comments below. DANKE :)
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I believe that the German center is clearly to the left for US-Americans. Therefore, the classification of the CDU as center-right is misleading. According to US standards, the program of the CDU would be classified even in the US-Democrat Party rather left.
Yes that's true! I didn't mention that in this video but we talked about it on the Understanding Train Station podcast: th-cam.com/video/cZ7Dm6n0C_s/w-d-xo.html
There is an actual Party called Center - very important in the Wimar Republik. You would call it "Christian Left". They were a conservative Party for the Catholic Minorty (what was suprressed by the Empire), but best buddies with the SPD. Most of their voters switched to the CDU/CSU in the late 1950s as catholics now had money (and were the mayority in west germany).
@@Ribulose15diphosphat OK, I can't see your point in this topic.
We are talking about contemporary parties here and the "Zentrum-Partei" today is of no importance at all (and the claimed continuity seems somewhat contrived).
I stand to my opinion that all major german parties are left compared to the US-Republicans and Democrats.
@@potator9327 Well, there is always the AfD. Some would consider them a major party (10,3% still). And they are clearly right wing, at least major parts of the party. Similar to the trumpists in the US as a considerable part of the republicans.
@@matteloht Ok, even if we count the AfD as right and all others left. Where is the Center as the average of the the Political Parties in Germany in comparison to the US?
And that is what I said.
this sounds exciting. i wish we had this privilage in Egypt. For everyone who lives in a democratic nation, count your blessings!
Nahh, votes don’t actually matter in a lot of countries. It’s all the same few people with very similar views, no real diversity of opinion in government.
@@princekrazie Ask the people of Russia that question...
@@princekrazie Spouting the republican lie. Votes do count. If I had to spend 4 more years suffering under the misguidance of Trump the Insane, I would have had an even worse depression last year.
I would rather count the number of voters with critical thinking skills. I save blessings for the superstitious - may they stop breeding in such alarming rapidity.
Were feeling with you, hope from Germany
I've never understood the "we have to go to church" excuse for not voting on Sundays. Going to church doesn't take a whole day. A 9-5 office job takes up much more time of the day than going to church.
And considering the number of people here who don’t vote anyway, it’s a paper-thin excuse.
You should never vote on Sundays. It's the lords day!
Yes it's basically a lazy excuse
@@jrutt2675 Just make Election Day a holiday.
@@dharmachile999 We used to. Now somebody is deterring us from trying to vote as well. I do understand the logic behind it. For 9 to 5 are the body of voters. Saturday will never be an option, because that is the Jewish Sabbath. But they have no problem keeping Christians from voting. It should be a national holiday.
As an American, it’s fascinating to learn about electoral systems that aren’t completely ridiculous
Ours is partially based on the American so... Maybe at some point the American one became complicated for some reason? :/
GTFO then. Planes leave for Germany every day.
@@owljones3389
You gonna make me?
If you have a problem with Americans criticizing the country they live in, feel free to move to China. Or Belarus.
@@Irochi
The US has the Electoral College, which is deliberately designed to give the candidate who receives fewer votes an extra shot at winning power anyway.
Which, of course, takes away incentive to actually try and win a majority of votes.
And it’s only used in Presidential Elections, and not elections for any other office.
@@owljones3389 Seems you are running out of arguments.
Not only in Germany, but in EU as well this election is very important. In France we will follow closely the results
No worry, all candidates are pro-European and will hopefully increase the cooperation with France.
Germany and France are the twin stars around which the rest of the EU revolves and we can expect the new German chancellor to visit Paris after his election by the Bundestag.
@@Henning_Rech “pro” European lol ….
Einfach Klasse wie du immer Amerika mit tiefgehenden Informationen über Deutschland versorgst.Damit leistest du mehr Aufklärungsarbeit als viele Politiker und Medien.Mach bitte weiter so und bleib gesund!
Just great how you always provide America with in-depth information about Germany. With that you do more educational work than many politicians and the media. Please keep it up and stay healthy!
Klaus, come over for a cup of coffee. It is only a 7 hour flight to New York. I'll buy because I'm so generous. Or I can make it myself. Could you bring me a case of Niederegger Classic Bittersweet Marzipan 3.88oz Bar - 10ct? That is a fair trade. My coffee for a little Marzipan Geschenk, and you are getting the best of the bargain!
@@albertmarnell9976 nah get some Wein from the Rheingau
Grüne = antiweiss
@@AntiwhitismIsJealousy I believe it! The same shit is going on in the U.S.. All of this racial talk is to stir up trouble when there is none or very little and everyone has preferences and biases. I'm not sexually attracted to certain people because I have my type and they have their type. Is this going to be a new thing? You will be brainwashed to change who you are sexually attracted to. Should a 20 year old girl be attracted to a 60 year old man? We all have preferences. Young people are so gullible.
This was so well done, Felecia! I learned so much from this video. You’ve got a gift for teaching! Thank you for breaking this down into small bit for those of us who are new to the system.
and beside the automatic voter registration, she left out some (for americans) really mindblowing details about the election process in Germany, like the ban on voting machines, or the number and requirements of polling stations and their exact locations stated in the federal and state level election laws as well as the recruitment of poll workers ... for example: in this election Berlin had 2275 (!) polling stations for roughly 2.3 mio voters and nobody had to walk (!) more than 10 minutes to his/her designated polling station
Hi
Lots of Germans don't really get it either.
@@karstenbursak8083 only the Marathon took place the same day which caused turbulence in Berlin.
Very true; she does have a gift for teaching. The video is indeed well done.
Thank you, I finally understand the German voting and counting system with Erststimme und Zweitstimme und Uberhangmandate. Besten dank, Feli.
Wait until you trie to understand / take into account how the seats of the Bundestag are actually split proportional to the population of each state.
Correction: no one understands the German electoral system. You could end up 600 MPs. Or you could end up with 900!
@@rogink, but A German Girl in America describes that the seat count depends on the Ausgleichsmandate which parties get if another party has more seats than the proportional distribution would grant these parties because of the constitutes elections. To reduce the seat count 3 Überhangsmandate won't be compensate in these election. But the next Government has to change these law and maybe the constitutes will be reduced to 260 constitutes.
I'm a political person and thought you did a very good job outlining and then detailing how the process works for individual voters. Not surprising, as you're very sharp and prepared normally. Danke sehr, Frau Professorin!
lol, "sharp"
I remember being nervous when my parents took me to vote for the first time, knowing German bureaucracy. But despite Germany being known for being crazy about their documents, the voting process is made as simple as it can possibly be for the voters. Also the cities make sure that everyone has a polling location close by.
I like that everyone can easily vote and each vote counts the same.
Berliners 2021: Oh yah? Hold my beer. Let's see what we can do about that.
@@derradfahrer5029 Ja und das war eine so große Ausnahme, dass sogar mal ein Kopf gerollt ist.
Yes, my dad who came from russia, was shocked how fast it was, since he had to drive me to the polling station after my car broke down the day before when I was visiting them (you are only allowed to vote in your constituency). I was in and out in like 30 seconds.
It is literally waking in, showing the letter or your ID, in case you lost the letter, putting 2 X's on it, putting the ballot into the box and walking out.
Compared to how the US runs things, the Germans seems to have it down to being near-utopian. The grass is looking greener. You have a state that heavily invests in its people. I envy you.
@@5GTower1000Percent In New York City, voting was in and out. Now that I live in suburbia, it takes 15 to 20 minutes
I actually have been actively involved in the election as an official. The election teams that organize the voting processes consist mostly of volunteers or state employees. It’s really been a celebration of democracy. Thanks for making this video.
Shout Out to you!
Thank you for explaining, im a student living in Germany. Now i understand a little bit more about what happened these days 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Wow! Als Gemeinschaftskunde Lehrerin hätte ich das nicht besser erklären können. Gibt ne glatte 1! 😁
Oje, als Gemeinschaftskundelehrerin sollten Sie auch imstande sein ihre Jobbezeichnung nicht mit Deppenlehrzeichen zu schreiben.
Mag die Autokorrektur gewesen sein.
War es..🙃
Genauso wie die Lehrzeichen? 🙈😆
@@feuerrabe meine jüte
This channel has been so much fun to learn all sorts of interesting things. Just little things you'd never think of and Felicia thinks to make a video about it. One of these days I'm heading to Germany and now I'll know just a little bit more about it before I go.
I think more complicated than U.S. elections but seems more effective. Another thing I like is the limited time they have to campaign before the election. Seems in the U.S. they campaign forever.
It is true that it seems that way since we pretty much always have some federal campaign going on, whether it's presidential, senatorial, or in the House but the reason why a lot of our campaigns last forever, IMO, is because the selection process for nominees is more democratic. The people select the nominee, not the party heads so the things that candidates in other countries do behind the scenes like building support are done out in the open(generally this early, it's done without saying they're running although it's obvious if you follow which states they visit since they are often the early primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. This sort of but not officially running is nicknamed the "shadow primary" in American political slang. That's the place where we're at for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination currently.
The most important difference to the US system is: Nobody is excluded from voting. All you need is your Personalausweis and every german has one. If you don't bring the Wahlberechtigungsschreiben (the paper the gouverment sends to you), they just have to search for you in the system - you will loose some time, so its better to bring it with you, but even that won't exclude you because your Personalausweis confirms your identity.
Voting in germany is easy. Even if you work on voting day like me, i can just do it before or after work and the system makes sure the location where i have to go for voting is as near as possible to my home adress.
And of course you can do postal vote like in every other democracy because yes, it is save.
@@urlauburlaub2222 I am not sure on the "dead people can vote" part. Whats the source for that? And what do you mean with "socialist"? There is no "socialist" party in germany that has ever made it over the 5% (so they never got a seat in germany since the unification). The only two parties that could be considered "socialist" in germany are the MLPD (marxist-leninist party germany) or the KPD (communism party germany) - and as i said, none of these did ever get close to 5% so they never had a seat.
@@urlauburlaub2222 do you even know anyting about that is not completly right leaning meaning not american cause there are facists vs conservatives.
they don´t want health insurance which in germany was introduced by bismark who nobody would call a socialist. Tbh do you even know what socialism is and what the difference to communism is?
@@urlauburlaub2222 and marrige clearly has something to do with socialism... i think you should read the communist manifesto before talking about it
Ich finde es soo schön, dass es derzeit so viele Videos von dir gibt vielen Dank Feli ich höre dir immer gerne zu
Great overview! I look forward to watching the results.
I hope you have really good time😁... Do you know ' Slow TV' from Norway? It will be something like that😀
Thank you for that great explanation Felicia !
Feli - You did a great job explaining everything. One of the big news channels should hire you as you clarified things much better than their so called experts - ausgezeichnet!!!
Fully agree. She is also truthful. A rare commodity these days.
Thank you so much for starting this channel, I am always seeking knowledge and you have provided so much insight regarding German culture for which I have such an appreciation.
Keep up the great work!
Vielen Dank für dieses Video.
Alles Gute für Dich!
Endlich versteh ich das mit den Überhangmandaten! Danke!
Finally I understand my own country's election system! Especially the "Überhangmandate". Learned about this stuff in school a few years ago but I didn't get it. Thanks Feli! 👍
Canada has a federal parliamentary system like Germany. Big difference: we don’t have proportional representation. Every member is elected on a first-past-the-post basis. Unlike Germany, when one party fails to win a majority of seats, which just happened in last week’s federal election, a minority government is formed. Though one coalition government was formed in the twentieth century, we don’t have a strong tradition for them. We’ve had several minority governments since 2000, under both the Liberals and Conservatives. While majority governments generally last about four years (a maximum of five years is allowed by the constitution) a minority government usually lasts less than two years.
Canada this past week elected a second Liberal led minority government. That may now be the norm because the days when the Liberals used to get huge majorities out of Quebec and Ontario are long over. Nowadays they’re shut out of Quebec and win in Ontario by a big plurality, which typically results in a hung Parliament.
@@NormanF62 This "Bloc Québécois" is a bit absurd on the Federal level. It is like a divorcée: "Hey Ottawa, I want nothing to do with you, but I will gladly take your money and privileges which of course I am entitled to.".
I'm Canadian and I'm still confused about why we don't just have a popular vote system that would count as one vote towards the Prime Minister candidate running in each party rather than just voting for a candidate in our city's riding.
@@HaleyMary Because no one really wants it. This is the second election that the Liberal have lost the popular vote and managed to grab power with support of fringe parties. A party hasn't formed government in Canada with over 50% of the popular vote since Deifenbaker.
In Scandinavia the parliament has a fixed number of seats.
You can then vote on EITHER a person or just a party. The person vote goes towards the party at first, and the seats are destributed on the votes, and then the candidates with the most votes overrules the internal party list. It makes it even more confusing on election night.
There are examples of someone at number like 20 in the party ranking list making into parliament as one of the 10 seats the party got, pushing out the person who was actually ranked 10th.
This was so helpful. You're so gifted at explaining complex things.
Thank you for this very informative video.
Alles Gute für Dich!
Interesting; I knew the basics of the parliamentary system, but this fills in the blanks quite nicely, thank you Felicia. FWIW, I have been a member of the American Green Party since gaining the franchise.
That was a great explanation, Feli! Danke!
Danke sehr, Feli! I am sure I could not have done half so well explaining the U.S. election and governmental processes!
I like the indexing on your video. It makes it easy to re-watch a segment.
0:00 Intro
3:34 Basics & Hard Facts
5:54 How does the German election system work?
7:20 What does the ballot look like?
9:20 What's the impact of the election?
11:11 What happens after the election?
13:00 Who is running?
17:41 Outro
Thanks Felicia for you excellent overview of the German election!
Thank you so much, Feli, for this extremely informative video. German government is so different from here in the US, and this really gives me a great understanding of how your home country's government works. Danke schon!
Concise, energetic, enjoyed your enthusiasm. Well done. Thank you Feli.
Excellent summation! Very informative.
hey i’m learning about Deutschland and taking a class in highschool and these videos are great. keep up the good work 👍
Excellent explainer. Much easier to follow than many of the dry political commentators.
Very relevant and interesting, thank you. Im looking forward to the follow up video detailing the results.
This was quite comprehensive! I learned so much! Thank you for sharing this with us.
You have done an excellent job explaining the German electoral system, much better than any explanatory video I have seen, and I have a political science degree!
One thing i admire about felisha she is so thorough, she would have been a good journalist especially the type that does documentary
Genau!
@M.L it can spell anyway
@M.L Thank you. I thought so but someone else spelled it wrong.
@M.L she is a young woman, if she wants to pursue a career in Journalism, she can, it is not a lost opportunity. In my opinion, I think she does very well in front of a camera and would make an excellent journalist, maybe she might consider working for Fox News.
it is called Deutsche Gruendlichkeit. German Thoroughness.
I was just rewatching this almost a year after the federal elections of 2021, and I found the video quite informative! Thanks for the video!
Really great video Felicia, I think you covered all the key aspects of how elections work in Germany in a comprehensive and clear fashion and I say that as someone with a Political science/International Politics background at university. !
Thats a lot of Information to absorb, thanks for enlightening us :)
Whoa, never saw a video right after it was posted
I thought your explanation was easier to understand then the DW video of this complicated subject. Thank you!
Feli, What a great job! You are a terrific communicator when you tackle any topic. Your English is perfect, including idioms and subtleties. I think you could easily do any topic, even those not relating to Germany.
Great explanation: The German election system is complex and the partys are complex as well. You have done ist very good in a short time. Respekt 👍👌
Wow, this was so helpful. You explained everything so clearly--an excelent teacher!!! I thought I knew about parliamentary systems,and often wish we had that system here, but I did not know how complex Germany's system is. I did hear yesterday that Germans vote for a member of parliament but also for the party they prefer separately. I was astounded and couldn't imagine how that worked, but you explained it well. How they plan for enough seats for everybody when the extras make it jump from 500+ to over 700 is amazing to me. Love learning more about Germany from you. I want to go back (was there just once in 1989 mostly in Bad Segeberg near Hamburg). (I like the Canada system--seems much smpler).
In theory it's actually possible to strengthen 2 different parties.
Let's say you prefer the Greens as a party because you prioritize sustanability and environmental topics, but at the same time think that your local CDU candidate (or SPD or whatever) is an excellent candidate. In that case you can vote for your preferred candidate with your first vote and your preferred party with the second vote.
@@HH-hd7nd the times you can strengthen two parties are gone since the implementation of the "Ausgleichsmandate" years ago. Before that, a party could get more seats in Parliament with "Überhangmandate" than the percentage of votes entitled them. This was rejected by the "Bundesverfassungsgericht" (highest German Court).
Nowadays your "Erststimme" only shuffles a little bit the candidates that will be in Parliament. And when you vote for two different parties with "Erststimme" and "Zweitstimme" you probably make the parliament bigger without any change of the percentage of seats for each, so where is the benefit?
The benefit is that you have a (small) say in which person is representing you. You might find your personal views best reflected by one party. So you vote that party with your Zweitstimme. But now image ine your party's local candidate is an absolute prick, and you do not want to have that person any power. There is also a really cool guy on the ballot that you may happen to know personally, unfortunately he's in the wrong party, but even though you diagree with him in some aspects politically you have a much higher trust in his personal integrity. So can vote that person in with your Erststimme, and still be sure that this does not harm your political intentions in the grand scheme of things (as it is the Zweisttimme that controls the proportion of seats).
Or it might be a matter of tactics: Your party's candidate might be unlikely to win his constituency, but the race between two other parties might be extremely close. One of those you see as the lesser evil than the other, so that is whom you vote for... a vote for your own parties candidate would be lost, and with voting for the "lesser evil" conservative you can block the "evil" socialist from getting a direct seat (or vice versa, depending on your own political standpoint).
@@turboseize.... but don't complain about a getting bigger and bigger Bundestag.
I knew nothing about this previously, thank you for a good intro!
Well done!!! ❤️ - Thanks!
I will share this with my American friends. 🙂
5:20 Der Bundespräsident hat eine wichtige Aufgabe: Die Prüfungskompetenz. Er kann z.B. bei Bedenken, dass ein Gesetz nicht mit der Verfassung vereinbar sein könnte, die Unteschrift verweigern.
Wie erwähnt ist das eine Formalie. Solche Ablehnungen kannst du in der Geschichte an einer Hand abzählen ;-)
Ich find's super, dass du auch so politische Themen ansprichst !!! 😊
Thank you for that video Feli!
@@urlauburlaub2222 While the church might have been crucial in keeping Sundays work free it isn't the reason it remained so. Buy that isn't even Felicia's point here. Her point is that church Sunday's aren't really a thing in Germany with people reserving the entire day for church activities. So voting would not collide with church-"duties".
Also, separation of church and state is much stronger in Germany than for example the US. "God bless Germany / Möge Gott Deutschland segnen" would be a very strange statement to hear from a politician.
@@urlauburlaub2222 wait a second, let me get this straight.... I Just want to understand you, ok? So, just because i wrote a comment, literally just thanking Feli for her video and telling her in German, that i love that she also does videos on political topics, you felt the need to react to that while telling me, what is wrong here in your opinion ? Like... You know, my comment had nothing to do with opinions, criticism or especially the church, so why did you start to randomly talk about that in my comment answers, If i may ask you that ?
@@urlauburlaub2222 uff....ich lebe in Deutschland seit ich geboren wurde, hab nur versucht höflich zu sein... Du hast angefangen auf Englisch zu antworten, also hab ich es dir gleichgetan. Keine Ahnung wo du in Deutschland lebst, aber mein Kommentar hatte so oder so nichts mit der Kirche zu tun...
Thank you for giving us some clarity on this subject.
Great explanation! Thank you for explaining it so well!
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. Sounds similar to the Danish system, at least the way that was portrayed on the Danish political drama “Borden” I watched on Netflix.
Great introduction to the German Election process. Thanks, Felecia
Simply excellent. Being the German I am and having been precisely that for 70 years I would not have been able to come up with a more understandable explanation. I would have had to dive deep into the subject - which I did NOT. This did not stop me from voting, which allplies, I'm afraid, to most of my fellow citizens. You have done a wonderful job. THANK YOU FOR THAT.
Very well done, thank you so much. I have forwarded this to my kids.
I went to DW website on the election. Currently there are projections that SPD leads with 205 seats, followed by CDU/CSU with 194, The Greens with 116, FDP with 91, AfD with 84, The Left with 39, and SSW with 1. Obviously, no party has an outright majority, so it will be interesting what coalition of parties will be formed, what cabinet positions promised, horse trading etc.
Let me help with some analytical input on what will happen by 95+X% chance: An "Ampel" coalition.
[I am a learned local newspaper editor and member of a mini-party (Pirate party) that has no influence on what goes on, because you need 5% of votes for the "Bundestag", so you might see me more kind of neutral]:
0. SSW is a Danish minority party in the Northern state of "Schleswig Holstein" (between North sea and Baltic sea) that has no 5% hurdle for to get a seat. Similar there is a special law for the German minority in Danemark. Such things are much more intelligent than to make war like in 1864 ;)
There are three options for a coaltion, a fourth one didn't get enough votes and any coalition combo with the more or less fascistic, trumpoesc AfD (-2% = 83 seats) will not happen at all.
1. "Rot-Rot-Grün" or R2G:
A coaltion of SPD (red), Linke (red) and GRÜNE (green) didn't get enough seats. 4-5 seats less than the needed 368. 735 seats at all in THIS Bundestag, the hugest number ever because of a special voting system of equalizating direct mandats and party voting). The "Linke" has to much inner problems and lost hardly voters (from ~10% to 5%). In other cases this would have been an exciting tug of war, which coalition would have come, because the old anticommunistic propaganda against the LInke does no more work (Western communistic parties have been more or less democrats and can't be compared to Sowjet-system parties of dictatorship). They are comparable in some aspects to Bernie Sanders lefts in the US-Democratic party as well as the left wing of the SPD. By the way, CDU/CSU and FDP would never make a coalition with the "Linke" and vice versa.
2. GroKo (="Große Koalition", ~huge coalition):
SPD and CDU/CSU normally don't made coalitions in German history since 1948. You might compare them a bit to Democrats and Republicans, even if they no compareable parties at all. CDU/CSU and SPD and others would be all more or less Democrats and also some left from Bernie Sanders. Just the new AfD can be seen more like Republicans/trumplike. They got 10% of votes which are about 50+X% more kind of protest votes. About 80% would never vote them and they are hated like the Nazi/fascist parties NPD+REPs before. No other party would ever make a coalition with them or cooperate in any case. So if Germans would vote in USA, Republicans would be chanceless, even if you can't compare them to the AfD with having real fascists in their party.
But back to the two "big" parties. As a third party the Liberals from FDP came up (5-10%) and have been the majority bringer since the 1998 by making coalitions mainly with the CDU/CSU but also the SPD. With the Green party coming up in 1980 things changed in 1998-2005: A new coalition of SPD and "GRÜNE" leaded by chancellor Schröder changed the situation totally. Also the Socialist party PDS, born from the DDR dictatorship working class party SED played more and more a role after getting united with SPD-splitting party WASG to the "Linke" (~Left; 4-10%, now 4,9% so loosing the 5% hurdle, but jumping again in the Bundestag by getting 3 direct candidates in East-Berlin and Leipzig, regions of old DDR => 39 instead of just 3 seats).
So five parties have been now on the start for possible coalitions. Last 8 years the (always by most people unwanted) big coalition of CDU+SPD caused to strengthen FDP, Greens and "Linke" and the AfD popped up on the far right wing.
So first conclusion: No coalition of SPD and CDU/CSU will come, even if possible. This would destroy the SPD, that was weakend hardly before (historical worst voting of 20% in 2017 and running in surveys towards 15%) and did win now by 26% (206 seats).
3. "Jamaika"-coalition:
German parties have more of less one colour as their symbol: CDU/CSU mainly black; SPD red; GRÜNE green, FDP yellow (former times yellow+blue); Linke red/pink; AfD blue [PIRATEN orange, even if worldwide purple]. It got a common view on coalitions to call some like flag colours of countries. So "Jamaika" means black+green+yellow = CDU/CSU+GRÜNE+FDP.
About 82% of Greens don't want any coalition with CDU/CSU at all. Kohl+Merkel chancellors and CDU/CSU are seen by a majority in the country as the main reason for slowing down and sitting out instead of solving problems, especially the more and more serious taken climate change with youth protest of "FridaysForFuture", that make school strikes every Friday since 2019. They won most in the election (from ~10 to 15% = 118 seats). If they would make a coalition with the CDU/CSU it would destroy their membership base and they will loose for many years any voting in the 16 states and the next election in 2025 and the already new founded climate party would rise.
But also the FDP would risc loosing many voters (the are since the big coalition at 11-12% = 92 seats in 2021, even if their voting base is more at 5-8%). The CDU/CSU has lost the election by -9% to 24% = 151+45 seats - and the chancelor candidate "Armin Laschet" is hardly more unpopular than the party too (16 want to see him cancellor, 1/3 less than CDU/CSU voters - he did not leave any chance to fail in the election campaign. Germans say: "Keine Chance auslassen, ins Fettnäpfchen treten"). Making him cancellor as the biggest looser in CDU/CSU history would hurt FDP and GRÜNE hard too. Especially because the strongest party (now SPD, no more CDu/CSU) normally gets to be the cancellor providing party and coalition leader. You might say majority is majority, but this is a big psychological thing you should not underestimate.
Another aspect is, that the FDP did quit a" Jamaika" coalition in 2017 after long ciscussion, what made many voters worry about their behaviour. Doing this now would cause also some bad reactions to them.
Even if "official consultations" might happen for getting a better deal in an "Ampel"-coalition, "Jamaika" will not come through or only by a low chance of finding no agreement to the "Ampel" coalition and not calling for new elections (hardest unpopular and rarest happend because of this and than only after a failed coalition 1-2 yeears after an election). I think also that before this minimal chances having scenario happens, cancellor candidate Laschet will get ejected for creating a new candidate like Markus Söder from the bavarian sister party of CDU, the CSU, who is much more popular (the CSU lost the voting not that high - from 6% to 5% =45 seats - they are only electable in the state bavaria, where the CDU is not electable, special historical reasoned by having a status as a "Freistaat").
4. "Ampel"-coalition:
Red (SPD)+ yellow (FDP) + green (GRÜNE) => "Ampel" = traffic lights. This is what will happen for huge chances and will get discussed by the three parties first. Because a "Jamaika" coalition in 2017 didn't come along after long discussions (FDP did quit, because of to much programmtic differences with the Greens and snobistic behaviour of the CDU/CSU) a second big coaltion was born through an exhortation of Bundespräsident Steinmeier, the more representative federal president (a historical rest of monarch aspects in former times), that gets special elected all 6 years. In crisises (it needed about 6 months to form a coalition) he has some temporary intervention options, but the most impact is his reputation and psychological influence. Because of this, the two smaller parties discuss now first with each other. Than the SPD will discuss with them too. The "Ampel" coalition (existed and exists already in some of the 16 states) is the most wanted coalition (62% of people prefer this), especially after the failed option of a R2G-coalition.
SPD and GRÜNE are far closer to each other in their programmatical point of view. They would have also problems on making a coalition to the "Linke", but its now a bit harder towards FDP. It will need longer time to find agreements for the next 4 years. But all hope to finalise this till X-mas.
You should not let you irritate on CDU/CSU and Armin Laschets behaviour these days in medias. They are bad loosers and didn't accept till today their lost on power and getting the main opposition party. [I guess they are fearing the loss of carrierist+economical lobbysts. Being an economic lobbyist is in Germany a bad reputation.] It will need some days for them to accept their loosing. But instead of Trump, they would never say, that votings are manipulated and make such a populistic TV show like this more or less psychopath, that most Germans see in him ;)
Most importantly after this botched election several CDU factions plus the CSU want Laschet out, not as chancellor. So they actively prefer an opposition than getting him save himself into a Jamaika coalition.
Unless something weird happens Ampel will be it, with an inverse Grand coalition (because SPD would have dips on chancellor) as an emergency solution if that fails.
Jamaika looks more like a negotiation tactic for the Greens and FDP by the day.
Oftentimes the competition inside a party is far more vicious than outside, given those politicians are actively fighting over the same leadership positions inside their own party first to even get a chance to get one in a government or parliament.
Really good explanation. Sag ich als Deutscher, denke werde es teilen, kenne genug, die das Video bräuchten. :)
Came here hoping you would be explaining this. You did not disappoint
That was very helpful information! Thank you!
Felica, you're looking prettier than ever. Keep up the great videos about the beautiful country of Germany. 😊
Servus Felicia! thank you for that explanation of the German political system. Glad to know it is the same as the rest of the world...i.e. clear as mud! Lots of love, Phil form England.x
Servus, Felicia! My wife and I enjoy your videos. You are an excellent observer and an able, engaging presenter. (Also, I must seriously compliment your accent when speaking English.) This video was especially good. I learned a lot! Thank you.
Prima! You made a complicated subject understandable and interesting. I learned several new things. Danke!
Thank you for explaining how German federal elections work. It is always fascinating to learn how other democracies elect their leaders.
8:45 Curiously enough this year, Die Linke almost did not make to the Bundestag because they had 4.9% of the votes for the Zweitstimme. They could only have seats at the parliament because they got exactly the minimum amount required of constituency seats, 3 (one in Berlin-Lichtenberg, one in Berlin-Treptow-Köpenick, and one in Leipzig II). Also, in this new parliament there will be one of its member that is from a party whose ideology focuses in the interests of Danes and Frisian minorities of Schleswig-Holstein.
Very well done, and I say that only after I watched the DW broadcast.
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My head hurts. I’m sure yours did too when you got done trying to translate all this for us. Thank you.
Haha, if you head is sore after MMP, try Single Transferable Vote (STV) like Australia.
Great video even though I am still somewhat confused of some of it. It's easier to understand a system of government you live under and in which you actually participate. I only know a little about German politics, but I get the sense that it seems to work well enough to content most Germans. Kudos on creating such a government...
If I might point something out: Some of the comments have related to the US being a "strictly two party system". The odd thing is, there has never been an actual federal law, or provision in the Constitution, prohibiting more than two parties. There have been periods in our history, mostly in the 19th century, where there were other parties in the House or Senate, and in some cases even a very large third party at one point. Also take into account that our party whips cannot force the members of their party to vote the way the party leadership necessarily wants, as in a parliamentary democracy, so our "two parties" were really more like several of them under two different political "umbrellas". Also, don't ignore the fact that there are regional varieties of Democrats and Republicans.
Interesting!
Cheers Gray
Brisbane Australia
Thank you. This is very helpful. Very well done
Very educative. Thank you, Felicia.
Servus Feli 😃. Great video 👍. Are you able to vote when you are living in the US? If I moved out of Denmark I would not be able to vote in general elections. Ich wünsche dir einen schönen Tag 😃👍
Yes, she is, but only if she has done the required paperwork.
People who don't have a residence in Germany and are living longer than 3 months abroad aren't able to vote by default. They are simply not listed in the voter's register anymore. But if German citizens want to vote from abroad anyway, they have to enlist again in the voter's register at the voting department of their last residence. If they have done that, they will receive their ballots by mail to their current residence.
Losing your right to vote just because you left Denmark seems unfair. It usually takes years to get another citizenship. In some cases you just don't get it at all. Sometimes you're not even planing to stay forever. 🤔
at about 7:00 : "Many Americans say that voting on a Sunday wouldn't work here, because people want to go to church" ... so, what? where's the problem? Are Americans in church the whole day? In Germany, the poll stations are always open for 10 hours (from 8am to 6pm) ... that should be plenty of time for attending a church service *and* go voting.
Some people are used to go voting after church service, on their way home from church.
Two years ago (when we had here an election day for municipal election and European Parliament election), I even worked as a volunteer in a polling station for about 8 hours in the afternoon and evening - after attending church service in the morning... so, yes, it is easily possible to combine both.
I love Felicia and her videos but in this instance she was partly mistaken. Historically Sundays were days to worship and contemplate God above all other activities. But more and more Sundays became one more day for leisure as religion and church leaders became less important and strictly followed. (Though the the US is still more religious than Germany, at least church attendance is much higher.) Now most people wouldn't want their Sundays ruined by an election, especially during NFL American football season.
@@caliscribe2120 you have ten hours to chose from for a 10 minutes event - that´s hardly ruining the day..
The NFL is usually in season during the major elections in US. Can't have elections get in the way of NFL games which can go on for more than ten hours!
It’s considered a day of worship. Though businesses are still open on Sundays (unless it’s a smaller one or Chik-a-Fila).
@@alexhwang334 Maybe a mail ballot mailbox, or even a polling station, in every NFL stadium would be a good idea?
Überhangmandate, Ausgleichsmandate und sogar die 3-Direktkandidatsregel, von der nun die Linkspartei profitiert! Und alles sehr gut aufbereitet und strukturiert! Man sieht, dass Du da sehr viel Arbeit investiert hast! Resepekt!
Thanks for the information, I appreciate it.
And I thought German physicists were hard to understand! Just the same, thank you for this update, Felicia. I wish we had automatic voter registration and a multi-party system here in America as well!
Very interesting. I learned the Parliament was called the Diet, from Medieval Latin Dieta,, I had no idea this is an American thing
But part 3 on the two column vote gave me an ice cream headache 😫
Thanks for the information
Members of Parliament get Diäten in Germany. That’s what the salery is called😁
@@karinland8533 It would be better to set them on a diet.
Thanks for this video, I found it very enlightening.
Interesting! I’m gonna check out those links! Thanks, Feli! 🙂
The Bundestag is the House of Representative equivalent and the Bundesrat is our Senate. The Senate also used to be appointed by the States so Germany has retained more of the original design of a republic than the US has in that regard.
I've voted. Greetings from Germany!
Vielen Dank -- a very clear description.
Hi Feli, well explained. I hope you received the postal voting documents in time.
07:00 Its not really on Sunday because church does not play a big role in general. I'm for example a christian and i go to church at Sundays but this doesn't affect me that way, that i'm not able to vote any more. You don't go to church for the whole day. It normally takes only an hour or perhaps one and half an hour and is early in the day before noon. So you have plenty much time left to go voting after church.
Obviously Feli assumes American conditions. Like, drive a long way to your polling station and queue there for several hours. - For me it was 4 min. drive, 5 min. wait, one min. vote, 4 min. drive. Without covid the polling station was in walking distance.
Many Americans belong to various congregations that spend nearly their entire Sunday on church and congregational activities. These pluralities can be local majorities when aggregated.
Many of them view voting as being analogous to working, and/or too profane for "The Lord's Day"
Most such congregations have their roots in England - only a couple spring from Central Europe - and the founders in many cases were exiled after the Thirty Years War / English Civil War, so their forms of worship are no longer commonly practiced in Germany.
By way of contrast, religion in Germany does not play such a significant role in so many people's lives
The Tuesday thing was mainly made because cars weren't a thing yet, and much of the U.S. population was rural farmers who had to travel a long distance to vote. But yes, now days, most people can hop in a car or a bus if you can't afford a car to vote, and it probably wouldn't take over half a day.
And church as you said usually is short. Though I've heard of cases where church is an all day thing for some people, but that's fairly rare. And where I live in the U.S. (Las Vegas), very few people go to church and religion really isn't a thing (for Gen X and younger that is). Football is the biggest issue on Sunday here.
I don't think it's only about church services. Where I live many churchgoers do their grocery shopping right after morning service, others go out to eat/get together for a meal with fellow congregants/their families. The whole day is often busy for many people. I think we should bump election day to Monday and just make it a three day weekend. That seems like the most practical/least disruptive option.
I think it’s more the issue of not working. The people working in the polling stations usually have their normal jobs during the week. If election day would be during the week, they would have to take a free day etc. I guess this would diminish the amount of people willing to work at the polling stations. And in the last years in some parts they already have problems finding new helpers…
Wow. Very well summed up and interesting! Most Americans can't even explain our system. Thanks, Feli, great video to wake up to this morning! :-)
Thank you for this video. Was wondering how the election is done.
This was a amazing post. Even for me as Germany. I have some American friends. I guess that I link them to this video. Klasse gemacht. Danke
Nicely done! Concise and entertaining. I bet most Germans could learn a thing or two from your video. I actually overheard an elderly woman "Why are there two votes again?" today in front of the Wahllokal.
I also think that some Germans haven't understood the election system, especially since I've seen the election results. For example, when a small party gets more "First votes" than "Second votes", which doesn't make any sense because the "First votes" for the direct candidates of a small party are basically useless.
@@tobyk.4911 Not ompletely. You can now see that with the three (3) direct votes for the "Linke" and their failure to get more than 5% of general votes. Due to some, strange for me, rule they still are represented as a Fraktion with 4.9% of the seats. So those votes are not lost. If you have enogh to get the three required candidates through.
@@user-sm3xq5ob5d with "a small party" I didn't mean "Die Linke" ... especially not "Die Linke" in Berlin and other eastern German states.
I meant small parties like "Die Basis" ... this party got somewhere between 1% and 2% of all votes in Germany ... and significantly more "first votes" than "second votes" ... which doesn't really make sense for them, but luckily had the positive side effect that these "First votes" were not cast for AfD which cost the AfD three direct mandates in Sachsen and Thüringen.
Concerning "Die Linke": Yes I know why "First votes" are very useful and important for them - in certain areas in the East (while everywhere on West Germany, my comment certainly also is valid for Die Linke: a "First vote" for this party is basically a useless vote ).
Especially in those districts that you talked about - where they got direct mandates- I would not call them a small party.
@@tobyk.4911 I see. A small party like you are referring to needs to grow. But with being so small if no one votes for them (or too few) they will never get elected.
I think one should vote one's mind. else these small parties never get on the stage. And if my vote goes to one of the larger ones I think it will not really make a difference. So the only chance to make things change is to vote one's mind.
@@user-sm3xq5ob5d but still the first vote is useless. If you wanna make then bigger, you have to give them your second vote.
Schön die Berliner Wahlbenachrichtigung 😂👍 Ich habe einen Tennisarm von den 6 Kreuzen bei 3 Wahlen und einem Volksentscheid 😂👅
Von 6 Kreuzen hast du einen Tennisarm? Dann wohne nie in Baden-Württemberg, hier hast du bei Gemeinderat-Wahlen so viele Stimmen wie Sitze zu vergeben sind, für Stuttgart sind es 60 (sechzig).
Das ist ein wirklich super gutes Video um das Deutsche Wahlsystem zu erklären. Ich werde manchmal von Freunden in den USA gefragt wie Dinge hier in Deutschland funktionieren, und allerspätestens jetzt kann ich Deinen Kanal als Referenz angeben.
Wie schon von anderen geschrieben ist auch das Thema Überhang- und Ausgleichsmandate verständlich erklärt. Ein Detail das ergänzt oder präzisiert werden könnte ist (insbesondere nach dem Ergebnis dieser Wahl in 2021) die Fünf Prozent Hürde: Du sagst das eine Partei trotzdem ihrem Anteil an Sitzen erhält wenn mindestens drei Direktkandidaten der Partei ihren Wahlkreis gewinnen, selbst wenn die Partei insgesamt unter 5 % bleibt. Das ist aktuell der Fall mit der Partei die Linke. Allerdings selbst im Fall das nur einer oder zwei Kandidaten einer Partei ein Direktmandat erreichen sind sie als Abgeordnete im Bundestag vertreten. Allerdings sind das dann die einzigen Sitze für eine solche Partei, die Zweitstimmen entfallen dann in diesem Fall. Auch das traf schon für die Linke zu in der Vergangenheit, wenn ich es richtig erinnere.
Eine Besonderheit bei dem heutigen Wahlergebnis ist aber die jetzt siebte Partei im Bundestag: Der SSW (Süd Schleswiger Wählerverband) der die Vertretung der Dänischen Minderheit in Deutschland, insbesondere in Schleswig-Holstein ist. Der SSW ist mit einem Sitz im Bundestag vertreten, obwohl kein Wahlkreis direkt gewonnen wurde. Der SSW ist von der Fünf Prozent Hürde ausgenommen, er muss nur soviele Stimmen bekommen wie rechnerisch auf einen Sitz entfallen (vereinfachte Rechnung: 100 000 Wahlstimmen für einen Bundestag von 100 Sitzen bedeutet es müssen mindestens 1000 Stimmen für den SSW abgegeben werden). Diese Sonderregelung gilt schon seit 1955 und ist im Landtag in Schleswig-Holstein ständig in Gebrauch. Für den Bundestag wurde die Option vom SSW aber seit Anfang der 1960er Jahre erstmals wieder in Anspruch genommen.
Vielen Dank für die Arbeit die Du Dir mit diesem Video gemacht hast.
Ergänzende Bemerkung: Der Bundestag ist weltweit das größte Parlament bezogen auf die Bevölkerungszahl, und das zweitgrößte Parlament überhaupt. Nur China hat ein größeres Parlament....
Whew! This was a lot to unpack in 19 minutes! Very interesting!!!
You use the word "constituency" which in the US would probably more properly be called a Congressional district. In the US, the "constituency" usually is considered to be the people who live and vote in the Congressional district.
She’s using it right. Constituency is any group which elects a representative. So it applies to congressional districts, yes, but also mayoral districts, US senate districts (states), state senate districts, state representatives districts, etc.
@@markhendrickson2610 She is describing the US federal government. So, more proper, and precise, to call it a Congressional district.
Constituency is borrowed from the UK. In Canada, they’re called ridings. In the US there are congressional districts. All of which refer to the concept of local representation.
@@NormanF62 Yes.
@@josephbordonaro Congressional districts only affect election to the House of Representatives, not the Senate, and not the presidency.
I knew very little about the government of present day Germany until watching this. The excellent graphics helped and the time you put into preparing it paid off in making it understandable. I think the American system is badly in need of major reform. I prefer our system for electing Representatives to the House (called first past the pole in Canada) except that the districts are in some cases very poorly drawn to favor one party over the wishes of the majority (called gerrymandering). Aber, the election of our upper house, the Senate, is extremely undemocratic, and the Senate needs to be completely reconstituted with some new form of districting, and with a scheme of proportional representation. The election of Senators needs to be based, as is the House, on the principle of one man one vote. Our President should be elected directly; the Electoral College abolished. Campaign finance laws need to be enacted to keep corporate money and other large very large financing out of politics. And the elections themselves reformed to make it easy for everyone to vote, also no campaigning or interference with voters on election day, and a news blackout of results on election day until all the polling places in all the states including Alaska and Hawaii are closed (that means, almost until the next day) As you can see I'm a dreamer.
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The Senate is more democratic than it used to be. Until the 17th Ammendment, Senators were chosen by state legislatures. Now the people get to elect them.
Also, the House of Representatives gets proportional representation. If they did the same with the Senate, then smaller (less populous) states would have no power whatsoever.
@@lottalettuce You misunderstand how proportional representation works. There are a number of schemes that have been proposed and a few have been adopted successfully in countries other than the U.S. Germany has one. Ireland and some Australian states have working systems of proportional representation. Our system is called, in other English speaking countries, "first past the pole" or "winner takes all". What is wrong with our Senate is that our states very extremely in population which results in the principle of one person one vote being violated to an extreme extent. For example the population of California is 39.54 million people and that of Wyoming .577 million people. For every person in Wyoming there are 68.53 people in California. If Wyoming gets 2 Senators, California should get 137 Senators to preserve the principle of one man one vote. Note that the upper houses of state legislatures used to be apportioned by county which violated the principle of one man one vote because urban counties were grossly under represented. The Supreme Court finally ruled that practice unconstitutional and the States were forced to redistrict according to population. The result was spectacular in some states resulting in much more progressive legislation. Intrenched old politicians got the boot and a lot of corrupt practices and laws were disposed of. The same needs to be done with the U.S. Senate.
@@tonygumbrell22 New Zealand uses a voting system much like Germany's where they have to make coalitions after each election. The US still uses the very archaic and unfair 'first past the post' voting system.
@@tonygumbrell22 New Zealand uses a voting system much like the German voting system, where they have to build coalitions after each election. The US still uses the very archaic and unfair 'first past the post' voting system.
Guy from Minnesota. Love your content!
Top Video! Erstklassige Aufklärungsarbeit, auch nach außen hin. Feli for Auswärtiges Amt?
After this election we could have over 1000 seats in the parlament. Yeah, this need to change…
We kinda need to get rid of the direct mandates.
~900 but still wayyyy to much
They blame the CSU (Bavarian party of the Union with CDU) to sort this out beforehand, as they profit the most.
We need kindof Musical Chair ("Reise nach Jerusalem") every day Parlament take away a chair down to 598 seats. Why not Work From Home or first come, first served.
For a country of 80 million, a large Parliament isn’t that unusual. The UK with 55 million, has a 650 seat House of Commons.
India is the only democratic country with a larger parlament, and has 1400 million people. A smaller Bundestag would make more sense.
I really enjoyed your talk on the elections in Germany. I wish the United States was a parliamentary democracy. Divided government (president vs. senate vs. house being dominated by different parties causes too much obstructionism)
How does DW in English differ from DW in German? I am curious about the differences presented to English speakers vs. German speakers.
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Main difference is the language being used. Information is the same as DW is part of ARD and thus part of the German public television, i.e. there is no commercial interest in biased information. Germans are actually mandated to pay a broadcasting fee (Rundfunkbeitrag) to fund public television.
You do realize why the USA does not function as a parliament? It was a direct result of allowing the people to have a direct vote on all positions and levels of power (unlike the indirect parliament style). This possibility of gridlock in government was created by design of our founders for the Constitution to make every effort to never allow for absolute power of any one person (like formal king/queen with absolute authority) or any one branch of government absolute authority and power. Even the Senate filibuster was created to demand debate over government policy so that a supermajority must come to agreement over all financial expenditures while all monetary policies have to start in the House of Representatives. Certainly it can be quite ugly, maddening, bureaucratic, and slow down legislation when branches of power, levels of power, or political opponents are stubbornly attacking each other over government policies. Think about this on a global level; America even checks and balances all presidents where as much of the world's leaders frankly have less possibility of opposition as the people in America have a solid and direct vote for President (including many checks on power). America's serious political problem is the growing apathy and knowledge of the political system and the civic responsibilities of voting and participating in civic policies. Democratic republics are quite rare in the drama of world history; likewise, modern Germany, UK, Canada, and a handful of other countries similar to the USA struggled for this exception to tyranny. Washington DC can be a dreadful place behind all the architecture of the city, but it is still amongst the least dreadful on a worldwide historical level, ever moving forward with the perpetual and great dialogue for citizens to resolve differences in the goal of peaceful resolutions.
@@johnkeller5163 The founder's intentions don't matter. If it is broken (or bad), replace it with something that works (or is better).
But also: the founders wanted senators to be appointed not elected, so "direct vote on all positions..." was never what they had in mind. And the filibuster has nothing to do with the constitution, that is just a rule the senate made up for itself.
Is comparing the US system to historical ones or dictatorships and third world countries really the standard you want to apply? "It could be a lot worse" is not a counter to "It could be a lot better".
That also applies to the parliamentary systems, there are a lot of pitfalls and reforms needed. The UK and Canada really need to reform their upper chambers, the PM has too much power and the head of state is useless, the constitution can be changed too easily and they need to get rid of FPTP. In Germany they need to fix some details of the election system and they should introduce federal ballot initiatives in my opinion.
@@johnkeller5163 the USA doesn't vote directly for the president. They vote for electors that then vote for the president, in most cases with a first past the post system on a state level.
Complicated topic made very simple. Great work Feli.
-An Indian living in Berlin