Learning about the Bundestag

April 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Last week the Bundestag-Mobil made a stop at the Epinayplatz in Oberursel.  The Bundestag-Mobil is basically a lorry that expands to form a mobile exhibition about the workings of the Bundestag.

The Bundestag-Mobil on the Epinayplatz in Oberursel

The Bundestag-Mobil on the Epinayplatz in Oberursel

Inside there is an impressive backlit photo of the glass dome that sits on top of the Reichstag building in Berlin, and a number of terminals to access the Bundestag website.  At one end a monitor shows the current debate in the main parliament chamber. [Read more…]

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Local Elections in Oberursel

March 26, 2011 By 1 Comment

The centre of OberurselWith local elections taking place in Oberursel tomorrow, amongst other things for the town parliament (Stadtparlament), I decided to take a trip into the town centre this morning and see what the political parties had to say for themselves.

In particular I wanted to know about plans to replace the town swimming pool, which has been closed for several years.  Recently there has been some discussion about the town selling off land to finance the building work.  This would not be so bad, if there was not already a sports field on it!

Then I wanted to know what plans the town has for the future of the schools here, in particular any plans for Ganztagsschulen – schools that teach all day rather than just in the morning.

And finally I wanted to see what they had to say about the forthcoming Hessentag, in particular about the lack of information for businesses in the town and my recent attempts to get a permit to enter the closed-off part of the town in order to visit my customers during the event. [Read more…]

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Kumulieren and Panaschieren

March 14, 2011 By 1 Comment

Ballot box - ©iStockphoto.com/jgroupVoting in Germany used to be easy.  As every German student knows, you have two votes – one for a candidate and one for a political party.

At least, that makes it easy for the electorate, because they can vote for someone they like, but still express a preference for a different party to have a majority in parliament.

For those working out the make of the parliament, there is a highly complex formula that determines how many seats each party gets, and depends on the number of direct mandates that individual candidates achieve, leading to the infamous Überhangmandate, which are worth a post all by themselves one day.

Until a few years ago, when some parts of Germany – Hessen included – introduced something call “Kumulieren und Panaschieren”. [Read more…]

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