Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Voters in the Federal Republic of Germany,created in 1949 under the Western allies after World War II,elect members of the 18th Bundestag,or lower house of parliament,today.
Total population: 80.5 million approx
Eligible voters: 61.8 million
First time voters: 3 million.
Timing: Polls open at 8 am and close at 6 pm.
Voting rights are given from the age of 18. The biggest single age group voting are those aged 70 and older,making up 20.1 per cent of the electorate.
German state with most voters: North Rhine-Westphalia with 13.2 million.
A total of 34 parties are fielding candidates in the election. Six parties are represented in the current Bundestag.
Bundestag Seats
No of members in German parliaments lower chamber: 598
Germany has a mixed proportional and direct electoral system
299 members are directly elected in their districts and the other 299 enter parliament via party lists through proportional representation.
The 5 percent hurdle: Under Germanys proportional representation system,a party that wins at least 5 percent of the vote gets seats in the Bundestag even if it fails to win any directly contested seats.
Overhang Mandate: Overhang seats are created if a party wins more directly elected seats in one of the 16 federal states than it would get under the proportional share-out from the second ballots cast by voters. Compensation seats are meant to ensure party proportion in chamber.
Result timings
Public television stations ARD and ZDF will release exit poll results at 6 pm. Unless vote is very close,tv networks should call the winners by 7 pm.
How do people vote: Voters dont directly elect the chancellor. Instead,they elect members of the Bundestag who in turn choose the head of government.
Why do voters get two votes each?
This is to allow each voter to cast one ballot to directly elect a Bundestag member in an individual district and another to vote for a party. Half of parliaments members are chosen by the first ballot. The second vote determines each partys strength in the Bundestag and is the decisive ballot
Opinion poll
In an Emnid survey on Bild weekly,conducted among 2,047 people,Merkel seems set for a photo finish
Christian Democratic Union: 39 per cent
Free Democrats: 6 per cent
Social Democrats: 26 per cent
Greens: 9 per cent
With far-left Linke party 9 ,the combined leftist opposition garnered 44 in the poll compared to 45 for Merkels coalition
