Germany

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government, administrative agencies and
independant courts. However, states are binding to the federal constitution, the
federal constitution is binding upon the states and the federal parliament is
responsible for major legislation and policy. The state parliaments main
responsibility is in two major policy areas: education, and law and order.
Administration of federal legislation is mainly the responsibility of the states,
allowing for greater consideration of local needs and issues. This system of
government ia also intended to bring government closer to the people. In many
cases, state powers are delegated further to local authorities.
A further area of responsibility for the states arives from the
parliamentary structure. The legislative body is the Bundestag, but the
Bundesrat (anupper house representing )the states must approve most legislation.
Each state has between three and five votes in the Bundesrat, depending
on the size of its population. Members of the Bundesrat ...

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the second, or party vote. The difference between these numbers and
the numbers of directly elected representatives is then made up from party lists.
A party can win more seats on the directly elected segment of the vote than the
number given by the party list results, in which event the size of the lower
house is enlarged. This provision was used in 1990, with the addition of six
seats.
To prevent fragmentation, a party must secure either three direct
mandates or 5% of the total vote to be represented in parliament. This results
in a barrier to the development of new parties, which must fullfill the 5%
criteria without the help of representation in parliament. Also, when the
practice ...

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