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This week’s R&D covers the German elections.  The Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the largest number of seats, picking up fifty-three in the Bundestag for a total of 206.  Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) alliance came in second, losing fifty seats for a total of 196.  It is expected that the SPD will coalition with the Green Party and the Free Democrats, returning it to power for the first time since 2005.