As a rule, the people decide the composition of the Bundestag every four years. The Basic Law stipulates that its Members be elected in "general, direct, free, equal and secret elections".
The Federal Convention is the largest parliamentary convention in the Federal Republic of Germany. Its sole function is to elect the Federal President.
Every schoolchild in Germany is taught that elections to the German Bundestag are general, direct, free, equal and secret. But what does that mean in practice?
Half of the total of 598 Members of the Bundestag are politicians who won the most first votes in one of Germany's 299 constituencies. The other half of the Members are elected via party lists in the Länder. And there are so-called overhang mandates.
It doesn't take long to mark two crosses on a ballot paper, but they are of immense significance. By marking these crosses, the voter is taking the central decision in a democracy: who should govern?
