Politics of Germany take place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republican constitutional monarchy. The Chancellor is the head of government, appointed by the Kaiser, and approved by the Reichstag. He is the leader of a plurality multi-party system. The federal legislative power is vested in the parliament (Reichstag) and the Reichsrat as the representation of the regional states. Since 1947, the party system has been dominated by the National Liberal Party (NLP) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).