Will Germany Keep Adenauer?

For the third time in the history of their young republic, the West Germans will elect their leadership on September 15. The outcome and the meaning of these elections might seem somewhat confusing to observers in this country, where the party with the strongest plurality wins the contest. The West German system presents a different picture. While there is not much doubt today which party will come out with the strongest plurality, it appears less certain whether this winner will also be pronounced the champion, or, to be more precise, whether the winning party will be chosen to control the country for the next four years.

To form a government in West Germany, an absolute majority in the Bundestag parliament is required; and in all free elections since 1871, no single German party—not even the Nazi Party after its rise to power—has ever been able to achieve this goal by itself. Therefore, the relatively strongest party must find allies among the other, smaller parties, to join with them in a “coalition” and to overcome the hurdle of the absolute majority. But if it does not come to terms with its potential partners, the losing party may prove more successful in this game of coalescing, and so form the new government. Who will rum Germany tomorrow might well depend on the outcome of this post-electoral poker game as much as on the results of the electoral race itself.

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Norbert Muhlen

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For the third time in the history of their young republic, the West Germans will elect their leadership on September 15. The outcome and the meaning of these elections might seem somewhat confusing to observers in this country, where the party with the strongest plurality wins the contest. The West German system presents a different picture. While there is not much doubt today which party will come out with the strongest plurality, it appears less certain whether this winner will also be pronounced the champion, or, to be more precise, whether the winning party will be chosen to control the country for the next four years.

To form a government in West Germany, an absolute majority in the Bundestag parliament is required; and in all free elections since 1871, no single German party—not even the Nazi Party after its rise to power—has ever been able to achieve this goal by itself. Therefore, the relatively strongest party must find allies among the other, smaller parties, to join with them in a “coalition” and to overcome the hurdle of the absolute majority. But if it does not come to terms with its potential partners, the losing party may prove more successful in this game of coalescing, and so form the new government. Who will rum Germany tomorrow might well depend on the outcome of this post-electoral poker game as much as on the results of the electoral race itself.