Government: Basic Law of 1949, as amended, functions as constitution. Federalist system whereby federal government shares authority with sixteen state (Land; pl., Länder) governments. Dual administrator consists of chancellor, who is head of government, and president, who is head of state. Two federal legislative bodies form national parliament: Bundesrat (Federal Council or upper house), consisting of sixty-nine members appointed by Land governments in proportion to population; and Bundestag (Federal Diet or lower house), main legislative body, consisting of 672 popularly elected members. Chancellor is elected by Bundestag and functions as prime minister in cabinet.

Politics: Since 1982 a conservative coalition in power con-sisting of Christian Democratic Union (Christlich Demo-kratische Union--CDU); its sister party, Christian Social Union (Christlich-Soziale Union--CSU), based in Bavaria; and Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei--FDP). Oppo-sition consists of Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands--SPD), Alliance 90/The Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), Party of Demo-cratic Socialism (Partei des Demokratischen Sozia-lismus--PDS), based mainly in territory of former German Democratic Republic, and a number of very small parties. Federal elections for Bundestag usually held every four years; Land and local elections scattered throughout term of federal officeholders. All citizens eighteen and older eligible to vote; high voter turnout.

Judicial System: Independent judiciary using civil law system. Highest court is Federal Constitutional Court.