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Germany is a federal republic, the capital of which is Berlin. It is composed of 16 länder. The president, who has a representative role, is currently Horst Köhler (since 2004) of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The chancellor is Angela Merkel, who in 2005 became the first woman chancellor of Germany and the youngest person to occupy the position since the end of the Second World War. The government exercises executive power, while federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Bundestag (the legislative branch of the political system) and the Bundesrat (made up of representatives from the 16 länder). The mayor of Munich is Christian Ude. He has been active in the Munich Social Democratic Party (SPD) since the seventies, and has been Mayor since September 1993, at the head of a coalition between the SDP and the Green Party.

In German politics, the Federal Chancellor is the head of government. The politics is characterized by a multi-party system where executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, Bundestag and Bundesrat. Since 1949, the party system has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

The Judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after 1990's German reunification.

Sources

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Germany
2. http://www.citymayors.com/interviews/munich_mayor.html