Very good, Dave, thank you for that further information.

There is a name for institutional power: the 4th power. While all other powers come and go, the 4th power are those that work for government and are often in place for years/dacades. They end up having a certain amount of influence and the final outcome is hardly ever done without them.

The better the political system, the less I am bothered by the 4th power. If the political system sucks, then the 4th power can be obnoxious/corrupt.

I do not mind ceremonial roles. The German president is an administrative/paper position and perhaps once every ten years the president gets on the news (for doing something he/she shouldn't have done). The chancellor is of course the head coming forth from the body.

Same with mayors. If a city council hires a city-manager, then the mayor is basically ceremonial. The city-manager is then the head coming from the body.

I do prefer it that way, voters electing a body and then from that body a leader/manager sprouts as the head. The more the power rests with the voters the better (but again, large nations should have a limited number of parties, somewhere four to six).

The beauty with the German voting system is that the voters have a real choice and they do not have to game their voting all too much. That is then very much like proportional voting.