... drink up, me hearties, yo ho.

[oloriel]

... so, now all votes be counted, them results be still not much different from yesternight. The conservatives have won, but they only ha'e 35,2% of the votes, with them social democrats an' their 34,3% bein' a close second. So, aye, no party be able to guvern it all by them onesies.

Writing about the elections in pirate speak is very, very weird.

So, seeing as us all need some fun after all tha' suspense, shall we just ignore that voting business and instead celebrate that annual Talk Like A Pirate Day? Aye, that we shall. Have at it, me hearties. Arrr.

*utterly fails and thus goes off to watch Pirates of the Carribean*

Comments

[ilanalynn.livejournal.com]

So explain to me this business you have here with more than one party governing. How does that work?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Well, basically, if one party doesn't get the absolute majority of votes (i.e., more than 50%), it's not fit to rule on its own, so it has to form a coalition with another party (or other parties) to reach more than 50%. If that happens, the two (or more) parties have to fill the posts of the ministers justly (usually roughly according to the percentage of votes, but that's subject to talks). And then, the two (or more?) parties have to try and get along for the next four years...

... very basically.

[ilanalynn.livejournal.com]

How do they decide which party gets to be the Kanzler? Maybe they just toss a coin or something...

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

*snerks* No, although that would probably work too.
But actually, that's something the Bundestag decides. The people only can influence the Kanzlerwahl indirectly: We vote for the parties that fill the Bundestag, but the Kanzler himself is elected purely by the Bundestag. Generally, the "Kanzlerkandidat" of the winning party is the one eventually chosen (although the office of "Kanzlerkandidat" doesn't technically exist in the constitution). In a case like we have now, it's probably the candidate of the 'biggest' party in the coalition (i.e., the one which got most of the votes).
I think.