What function do parliamentary elections serve? The obvious answer is to select the people's representatives, so a parliament's political composition must reflect, as closely as possible, that of the country. However, this is no longer a sufficient response. Parliamentary elections are also, and perhaps above all, the means whereby the people indirectly but effectively appoint a prime minister, together with his or her team and majority. This notion was already apparent in Britain in the late nineteenth century with the confrontation between Gladstone and Disraeli and is now generally the case. For example, in September 2009, the CDU's election posters in Berlin carried the message Wir wählen die Kanzlerin - we are electing the Chancellor. In other words, voters were being told in no uncertain terms that they were required to choose a head of government rather than just a member of parliament.