Official results from Germany electionsBy Associated Press
Published September 18th 2005 in Seattle Post Intelligencer
BERLIN -- Official results in Germany's parliamentary election Sunday, with votes counted in 298 of 299 districts. Voting in the final district, in the eastern city of Dresden, has been delayed until Oct. 2.
Final vote percentages and seat totals from the last election, in 2002, in parentheses:
Social Democrats: 34.3 percent, 16.15 million votes (38.5 percent, 251 seats).
Christian Democrats: 35.2 percent, 16.59 million (38.5 percent, 248 seats).
Free Democrats: 9.8 percent, 4.62 million votes (7.4 percent, 47 seats).
Greens: 8.1 percent, 3.83 million votes (8.6 percent, 55 seats).
Left Party: 8.7 percent, 4.09 million votes (Ex-communist Party of Democratic Socialism: 4 percent, 2 seats).
The remaining approximately 4 percent of the vote was split among more than 20 smaller parties and independent candidates.
Turnout: 77.7 percent (79.1 percent).
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.