Political+Charcateristics

A //Vorparlament//, or provisional parliament, established as the German National Assembly during the revolutionary upheavals of 1848, the Frankfurt Parliament convened in the rotunda of Paulskirche in Frankfurt am Main and authorized the organization of election by direct male suffrage throughout Germany and Austria.

The municipal elections in the state of Hessen on March 7 offered dramatic evidence of popular disgruntlement over politics and politicians. While the main parties, the SPD and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), both lost support, there was a sharp rise in the protest vote, with the Greens receiving 11% and the far-right Republicans getting 8.3%. In Frankfurt, the major city with the highest proportion of foreigners in Germany, the Republicans polled 10%. The results sparked anguished soul-searching among the political establishment.