Big Congrats to our German friends on the FDP win!

[Bradley in DC]

The Free Democrats had a big win in the German elections--their best showing yet!

The party is our closest equivalent there, pro-free market, pro-civil liberties, etc.

 

[james1844]

From Wikipedia

...The (FDP) party's political guidelines uphold the principles of freedom and individual responsibility under a government "as extensive as necessary, and as limited as possible" (German: so viel Staat wie nötig, so wenig Staat wie möglich). The FDP's policies are marked by skepticism of public intervention and of socialist as well as socially conservative policies.

 

[teacherone]

Thanks! My wife voted for the FDP (Germany's Libertarians). We got 15%!

What? Socialist Germany more Libertarian than the USA.

It's true!!!

 

[Imperial]

Didn't Merkel's party try to make an alliance with the other major party of Germany? I haven't kept up with German politics enough...

 

[Bradley in DC]

Didn't Merkel's party try to make an alliance with the other major party of Germany? I haven't kept up with German politics enough...

Merkel's party (the "black" CDU, Christian Democrats--and it's Bavarian sister party the CSU) has been in a "grand alliance" with the SDP (Social Democrats) for a few years after neither party won enough seats by themselves or with an ally to govern alone. The CDU lost a bit this time, the SDP lost big.

The "yellow" FDP won big with nearly 15% of the vote (all of this is unofficial based on exit polls).

The "red" Left (former Communists) and the (okay, "green") Greens both did okay getting nearly a quarter of the vote between them.

The CDU/CSU will now form a black/yellow coalition with the FDP (personally, I favored the "Jamaican" coalition with the Greens too, but they said no). The Social Democrats wanted to form a "traffic signal" coalition (red/yellow/green), but the Free Democrats said no thanks this time round. The FDP used to be the kingmakers over the years: for many years in coalition government with the CDU/CSU then in the 80s in a coalition government with the SDP. I alluded to this dynamic in my HuffPo review of For Liberty:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/j-bradley-jansen/ifor-libertyi-examines-th_b_300868.html

(please Digg and leave comments to boost it's profile and expose more people to the documentary about us: RPFs, Josh, Bryan, Ron Paul Rider, et al., are featured!

 

[Bradley in DC]

http://www.fdp-bundespartei.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=1131&wc_lkm=775

(Liberal like us)

YouTube - Das erste Mal

 

[Pericles]

Most of Europe does not have the either / or mentality that pervades the US, so voting for the party that expresses your views gives a more accurate picture of where the country is. Voters vote for the party - not a candidate for Chancellor. It takes 5% or more of the vote to get a seat in the Bundestag, and seats are based on percentage of qualifying vote, which is how the about 48% becomes a majority of the seats.

 

[Bradley in DC]

Most of Europe does not have the either / or mentality that pervades the US, so voting for the party that expresses your views gives a more accurate picture of where the country is. Voters vote for the party - not a candidate for Chancellor. It takes 5% or more of the vote to get a seat in the Bundestag, and seats are based on percentage of qualifying vote, which is how the about 48% becomes a majority of the seats.

Good points, except that (unless they've changed it) the Germans vote twice in effect: once for party and once for the person.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4712292,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

Germans elect their representatives in a complicated process. It involves dividing up the 598 seats in the Bundestag, or parliament, into two groups, which are filled using two votes. The first vote is for an actual candidate: Each electoral district has candidates from one or several parties that campaign for a seat. These seats are handed out in a simple, first-past-the-post majority, a system that often places smaller parties at a disadvantage.

Two-vote system

The other 299 seats are allocated based on the second vote, which is for a party. The votes of the 62 million Germans eligible to take part in the election are added up and then divided by the number of parties. Those seats are then handed out to the people each party has put on a list, which is divided up among all 16 German states.

(they're getting rid of the overhang votes in 2011)

This German ballot has the constituency vote on the left and the party vote on the right:

 

[Bradley in DC]

http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/facts/bl_electoral_system.htm

Under the German electoral system, each voter casts two ballots in a Bundestag election. The elector's first vote is cast for a candidate running to represent a particular district. The candidate who receives a plurality of votes becomes the district representative. Germany is divided into 328 electoral districts with roughly 180,000 voters in each district. Half of the Bundestag members are directly elected from these districts. The second ballot is cast for a particular political party. These second votes determine each party's share of the popular vote.

The first ballot is designed to decrease the anonymity of a strict proportional representation system--thus the description "personalized"--but it is the second ballot that determines how many Bundestag seats each party will receive. To ensure that each party's percentage of the combined district (first ballot) and party (second ballot) seats equals its share of the second vote, each party is allocated additional seats. These additional party seats are filled according to lists of candidates drawn up by the state party organization prior to the election. Research indicates that constituency representatives in the Bundestag are more responsive to their electorate's needs and are slightly more likely to follow their constituents' preferences when voting than deputies chosen from the party lists.

If a party wins more constituency seats than it is entitled to according to its share of the vote in the second ballot, the party retains those seats, and the size of the Bundestag is increased. This was the case in both the 1990 and 1994 federal elections. After the 1990 election, the total number of seats in the Bundestag rose from 656 to 662. In 1994 sixteen extra seats were added, leading to a 672-member Bundestag; twelve of those seats went to Kohl's CDU and accounted for Kohl's ten-seat margin of victory.

One crucial exception to Germany's system of personalized proportional representation is the so-called 5 percent clause. The electoral law stipulates that a party must receive a minimum of 5 percent of the national vote, or three constituency seats, in order to get any representation in the Bundestag. An exception was made for the first all-Germany election in December 1990, with the Federal Constitutional Court setting separate 5 percent minimums for the old and new Laender . Thus, a party needed only to win 5 percent of the vote in either western or eastern Germany in order to receive seats in the Bundestag.

The 5 percent clause was crafted to prevent the proliferation of small extremist parties like those that destabilized the Weimar Republic. This electoral hurdle has limited the success of minor parties and consolidated the party system. Often voters are reluctant to vote for a smaller party if they are unsure if it will clear the 5 percent threshold. Smaller parties, such as the FDP, encourage voters to split their ticket, casting their first ballot for a named candidate of one of the larger parties and their second ballot for the FDP.

 

[TCE]

Are they Pro-Lisbon Treaty?

 

[Bradley in DC]

Are they Pro-Lisbon Treaty?

No idea. Wasn't a big part of their campaign (either way) as best as I can tell.

 

[TCE]

No idea. Wasn't a big part of their campaign (either way) as best as I can tell.

Merkel's party was in power when it was pushed through, though. Did she support it then?

EDIT: NVM, they agreed to it, but haven't deposited it yet, meaning they haven't "officially" signed it. It's all up to the Irish now on October 2nd to vote it down again.

 

[Bradley in DC]

Merkel's party was in power when it was pushed through, though. Did she support it then?

Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if the CDU favored it, but this thread is about our FDP friends.

 

[Imperial]

Merkel's party (the "black" CDU, Christian Democrats--and it's Bavarian sister party the CSU) has been in a "grand alliance" with the SDP (Social Democrats) for a few years after neither party won enough seats by themselves or with an ally to govern alone. The CDU lost a bit this time, the SDP lost big.

The "yellow" FDP won big with nearly 15% of the vote (all of this is unofficial based on exit polls).

The "red" Left (former Communists) and the (okay, "green") Greens both did okay getting nearly a quarter of the vote between them.

The CDU/CSU will now form a black/yellow coalition with the FDP (personally, I favored the "Jamaican" coalition with the Greens too, but they said no). The Social Democrats wanted to form a "traffic signal" coalition (red/yellow/green), but the Free Democrats said no thanks this time round. The FDP used to be the kingmakers over the years: for many years in coalition government with the CDU/CSU then in the 80s in a coalition government with the SDP. I alluded to this dynamic in my HuffPo review of For Liberty:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/j-bradley-jansen/ifor-libertyi-examines-th_b_300868.html

(please Digg and leave comments to boost it's profile and expose more people to the documentary about us: RPFs, Josh, Bryan, Ron Paul Rider, et al., are featured!

Interesting. I am not surprised by the result of this German election dynamic. I remember reading last year or so about Merkel's alliance with the other major party and didn't see how it would remain viable.

See, the two party system is built off of a contradiction that is powered by circular reasoning. The people must remain convinced that the two largest parties are separate, when in fact normally the similar situation forces similiarities to exist. The key is to not change but appearing as if you change. The alliance then confessed the deep secret every power must hide- that once you are in charge, how power works generally is uniform with only slight variation.

 

[Knut Schreiber]

The FDP is as pro-market as the US Democrats. So, it's not like this is a libertarian revolution in Germany. But you get an idea of how left-wing Germany is when the FDP is considered "market radical" by the Left and Center-Left. For example, the FDP supports a health care system that is less free-market than the current US system. And that is considered "extreme", "market radical" and "social unjust" in Germany. The FDP is not a libertarian party, but it's the best we got here. They won't be able to change much with CDU/CSU, because Merkel likes her "central" role and doesn't want to loose any voters, but at least we might get some tax reductions.

In Germany the parliament is made of two chambers. In the second chamber the state governments can vote on many important legislations. Next year there are elections in the biggest state of Germany which is currently ruled by CDU and FDP. They need to win this election to keep their majority in the 2nd chamber and won't risk much until then.

So, it's a nice result, but for a very strong libertarian the FDP is nothing more than the "light"-version of the other socialist parties.

 

[Flash]

Yeah I think Germans would do better off just voting for a Nationalist party.

 

[Bradley in DC]

The FDP is as pro-market as the US Democrats. So, it's not like this is a libertarian revolution in Germany.

So, it's a nice result, but for a very strong libertarian the FDP is nothing more than the "light"-version of the other socialist parties.

Hi Knut,

Welcome!

 

[Bradley in DC]

Election results here

http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/b...UND_09/ergebnisse/bundesergebnisse/index.html

 

[Pericles]

Yeah I think Germans would do better off just voting for a Nationalist party.

The NPD (National Party of Germany) does not make the 5% cut.

While the FDP would be the closest thing to libertarian that Germany has in terms of economic outlook, the party is pro NATO (sponsored changing the German constitution to allow foreign deployment of German troops as part of NATO missions), and pro US. Traditionally, the party gets the Foreign Minister cabinet post as part of the coalition, and being 30% of the votes should get more influence in this government.

Not even the FDP will seriously attack the social safety net - they could go after non citizen benefits, but that is about it.

 

[Bradley in DC]

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4726247,00.html