The Bundestag is the elected representation of the German
people. Technically speaking half the 598 seats in the Bundestag
are allocated by means of the parties’ state lists (the second
vote) and the other half by the direct election of candidates in
the 299 constituencies (the first vote). This division changes
nothing with regard to the key role of the parties in the
Electoral system. Only those candidates who belong to a party
have any chance of success. The party to whom members of the
Bundestag belong is meant to reflect the distribution of votes.
In order to prevent complications in the formation of majorities
by the presence of small and very small parties a Five-percent
threshold is designed to stop their being represented in the
Bundestag. The Bundestag is the German parliament. Its elected
representatives are organized in parliamentary parties and
select a President from among them. It is the function of the
Bundestag to elect the Federal Chancellor and keep him in office
through support for his pol