Politics
Munich's current mayor is Christian Ude of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Munich has been governed by the SPD for all but six years since 1948. This is remarkable because Bavaria—and particularly southern Bavaria—has long been a conservative stronghold, with the Christian Social Union winning absolute majorities among the Bavarian electorate in many elections at the communal, state, and federal levels. Bavaria's second city, Nuremberg, is also one of the very few Bavarian cities governed by a SPD-led coalition.
Munich is currently governed by a coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the Rosa Liste (Pink List, a gay rights party).
As the capital of the Free State of Bavaria, Munich is an important political centre in Germany and the seat of the Bavarian State Parliament, the Staatskanzlei (the State Chancellery) and of all state departments.
Several national and international authorities are located in Munich, including the Federal Finance Court of Germany and the European Patent Office.
In 2003, Munich decided to switch 14,000 computers gradually to free software. It develops a Ubuntu based Linux distribution called LiMux.
Read more about this topic: Education In Munich
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“Man made one grave mistake: in answer to vaguely reformist and humanitarian agitation he admitted women to politics and the professions. The conservatives who saw this as the undermining of our civilization and the end of the state and marriage were right after all; it is time for the demolition to begin.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“The one thing sure about politics is that what goes up comes down and what goes down often comes up.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)