ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

German governing coalition

Imagine you and your friends want to play a game, but you can't agree on the rules. So, you decide to make a deal: you agree to play the game the way your friend wants to, and your friend agrees to play another game your way.

Now, let's say that you and your friend are important people in a country called Germany, and the "game" you're trying to play is how to run the country. In this case, you might form what's called a "coalition."

A coalition is like a team made up of different groups or parties. Each group has its own ideas and opinions about how the country should be run, but they agree to work together so they can have more power and get more done.

In Germany, the government is made up of several political parties that have formed a coalition. The biggest party is called the Christian Democratic Union, or CDU for short. They have a lot of members in the government and are usually the ones who decide who will be the leader of the country (called the Chancellor).

To form a coalition, the CDU has to work with smaller parties who also have members in the government. The current coalition partners are the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The CDU, CSU, and SPD don't always agree on everything, just like you and your friends might not agree on the rules of your games. But they have to find ways to work together and compromise so they can pass laws and make decisions for the country.

Sometimes, coalitions can fall apart if one of the parties decides they don't want to play the game anymore. In that case, they might hold an election and see who gets to form a new coalition.

So, a German governing coalition is when different political parties work together to run the country, even if they don't always agree on everything.