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:
“It is not so much that women have a different point of view in politics as that they give a different emphasis. And this is vastly important, for politics is so largely a matter of emphasis.”
—Crystal Eastman (1881–1928)
“The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.”
—Ben C. Bradlee (b. 1921)
“In politics people give you what they think you deserve and deny you what they think you want.”
—Cecil Parkinson (b. 1932)