LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Weimar Republic: Powers
built 645 days ago
The biggest flaw with the Weimar Republic was its voting system. In electing the parliament (better known as Reichstag) people had to vote for an entire party, not just a candidate. If a party got one percent of the vote, than it received one member in parliament. Party officials, not voters, decided exactly who would fill those seats. If no single party held power, then two or more parties could band together to form a coalition. These coalitions were easy to break apart.
Source:
The constitution of the Weimar Republic stated that the people would elect the President. The term of the presidency was set at 7 years. The President had a range of powers that need careful analysis when evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the constitution. These included: The President was the head of the armed forces; The President chose the Chancellor and had the legal right to dismiss him; It was the President who decided when to call elections, therefore allowing him to dismiss governments; Article 48 of the constitution allowed the President to rule independently of the Reichstag in the case of national emergency and; The President had the right to call referendums.
Source:
The last years of the Weimar republic were stamped by even more political instability than in the previous years. On 29. March 1930, the finance expert Heinrich Brüning had been appointed Chancellor by Paul von Hindenburg after months of lobbying by military. The new government was expected to lead a political shift towards conservatism, based on the emergency powers granted to the Reichspräsident by the constitution, since it had no majority support in the Reichstag.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Powers