Like much of Germany's democratic machinery, its voting system is designed to avoid past mistakes. A combination of proportional representation and first-past-the-post majority voting fosters stable coalitions and discourages small fringe parties.When Germans go to the polls on September 22nd, they will elect the members of the Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament. Whichever coalition of parties can mustera majority of members will form the federal government. (Members of the Bundesrat, the upper chamber, are delegates of Germany's 16 states, or Laender).
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