German Embassy Hosts Election Bash
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- The election party held at the German Embassy on September 27 drew a wide variety of guests, including diplomats from both sides of the Atlantic, many of whom were greeted by German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth.
- (© German Embassy, Washington)
Government officials from both sides of the Atlantic celebrated Germany's national election via a live broadcast of televised news coverage at the Embassy on September 27.
A wide variety of guests with an interest in Germany including US Department of State officials mixed and mingled in the German Embassy's airy, angular auditorium, enyoying a Bavarian-style buffet of beer, bratwurst, potato salad and hot pretzels from 11 a.m. onwards as the election results rolled in directly from German public broadcasters posting predictions and delivering the results in real time.
Showcasing the colors of Germany's biggest political parties, the auditorium was decked out in myriad black, red, yellow and green balloons in various possible political groupings. Two massive rotating columns of balloons framed a giant screen which featured German political news and commentary all afternoon.
US officials, German and US media representatives, policy officers from various German political foundations, as well as cultural and business leaders, including from the Goethe-Institut and The Representative of German Industry and Trade (RGIT), joined German diplomats and Embassy staff to discover who would lead the country over the next four years.
Germany boasts a vibrant multi-party parliamentary system, and there were six parties in the running with a serious shot at forming coalitions in a bid to govern the country based on the percentages of votes they receive, which translates into a specific number of seats in the national parliament, or Bundestag.
Some views may have been divided, but there was one thing everyone could agree on - a good time was had by all at the Embassy's election party, coordinated by its public diplomacy department, the German Information Center USA.
