This German Democratic Republic consists of NW Germany. Other than its OTL counterpart, it's really democratic, and more comparable to Labour Britain. It's a centralized state, which consists of 17 Regierungsbezirke (administrative districts). Banks, hospitals and mining were nationalized, other branches of economy are free. The Kanzler (chancellor) is the head of state and leads the government, like the US president, and thus quite powerful. He's elected by the first chamber of the parliament, the Nationalrat. The second chamber, the Länderrat, isn't very influential. Elections to the Nationalrat are once in four years, starting in 1949. A party that wants to gain seats has to gain 5% of the votes in the whole state. Kurt Schumacher was the first chancellor to be elected. It's a founding member of the EFTA.