The 2021 German elections are said to be a super election, potentially the biggest since reunification. After 16 years, September 26 marks the end of the ‘Merkel Era’ and Germans will head to the polls to decide the next leaders of Europe’s largest economy... But how does it work? And who leads? Is it one party or many? And what exactly is the Bundestag?

In the inaugural episode of this series we start at the very beginning. Jill and Julia are joined by Clare Richardson (https://twitter.com/clarereports), a journalist and news anchor, currently reporting on her second round of German elections. We learn the structure of the German parliamentary system, the difference between the president and the chancellor, and how local, state and federal elections function. We also explore the rules of campaigning, how parties get one of the 709 seats available in parliament, why Germany operates under a coalition government, and much more.

Thank you Clare for chatting with us, Pirate Studios for making our recordings possible, and Epidemic Sound for the theme song.

If you enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more, help us make that happen by donating to our PayPal. The linked account is info@bearradio.org - all donors will receive a virtual hug and a loving shoutout in the next episode.

Our theme song is City Phases by John Abbot, also featuring audio from
Deutsche Welle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE7pKkeoUHw&t=5s),
Deutsche Welle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mVGsFhd9oY&t=22s),
Deutsche Welle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i52MGlRWf3Q&t=367s)
and TLDR News EU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RchwILo7HhQ&t=24s).