Germany is a constitutional democracy with a president as Head of State and a bicameral (two houses) Parliament.

The two houses are the Federal Assembly (Bundestag) and Federal Council (Bundesrat).

The Bundestag is elected by a popular vote with a combination of direct and proportional representation. It has 603 seats.

The Bundesrat is nominated by the 16 states.

The President is elected by all members of the Bundestag and an equal number of states representatives. The President’s role is mainly ceremonial and representative. The current President is Horst Köhler.

The Chancellor is elected by an absolute majority of the Bundestag for a term of four years. The current Chancellor is Angela Merkel (elections took place in September 2005). She is Germany’s first woman chancellor and also the first chancellor to have grown up in the former communist eastern part of the country. As the CDU and their Bavarian allies, the CSU, were denied a clear majority in September's elections, Mrs Merkel, as a conservative, will head a grand coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who ruled before. Mrs Merkel has pledged to revive the faltering German economy.

The Federal Cabinet (Bundeskabinett) is appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Chancellor.