Why Germany has no new government since the election in septembre 2017
The german general election is already almost three months in the past. However, we still don't have a new government.
To understand the current situation, I will have to explain the german political system.
Every four years, the people of Germany vote their parliament. Last time this happend was Septembre 2017.
After the election, the MPs vote one of them as the new German chancellor. Obviously, he/she needs a majority. So most of the time a single party does not hold a majority, so they have to cooperate with another party so they will support the same chancellor candidate. The two (or more) parties will sign a contract in which they note down the aims they want to reach together. Furthermore, the chancellor nominates ministers from the other party supporting the chancellor.
In the 2017 election, the three parties CDU/CSU (conservative), FDP (liberal) and "Die Grünen" (green) had negotiations about forming the government together. They all would vote Merkel as chancellor so they can decide along with her what the government will do.
But they were not able to find common goals so they quit their discussions. Their negotiations lasted until the mid of November. Now, CDU/CSU and SPD (social democrat / democratic socialist) try their luck, but this will also be difficult, because many members of the mid-left SPD are not in favor of the so called great coalition (they are the two biggest parties in germany). If they are not able to form a government together, there are two possible outcomes:
- New elections
- Minority government
I will write more about the second option in another post, I hope you like this topic. If so, support me with an upvote and follow me for similar posts!