2021 German Federal Election

The 2021 German federal election was held on Sunday, 26 September 2021, to determine the membership of the 20th Bundestag, succeeding the 19th, which was elected in 2017. It occurred simultaneously with elections for the state legislatures in Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Thuringia. The election marked the end of the Chancellorship of Angela Merkel, who had previously announced her intention to retire afterwards.

The result of the election was a narrow lead for the Social Democratic Party, in terms of votes cast as well as seats won in the Bundestag, followed by the CDU/CSU in second place and the Greens in third. After the election results were announced, leaders of the two largest parties began reaching out to others in hopes of forming a new parliamentary coalition to lead the German government.

Background[edit]

The 2017 German federal election, which was notable for the emergence of the Alternative for Germany ("AfD" in German) as a major political party in the Bundestag for the first time, resulted in the continuation of a "grand coalition" between Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democratic Party, its traditional opposition, which had been in place since 2013; this coalition was only resumed after several months of negotiations, though, and was approved by a very slim majority in the Bundestag. Both parties were significantly weakened by the election due to their perceived poor handling of the ongoing European Migrant Crisis, which had driven many voters toward the anti-Islamist AfD.

Following poor state electoral results for the CDU/CSU and continuing internal divisions over the proper handling of the migrant crisis, as well as the rising frequency of Islamic terrorist incidents in Germany that stemmed from it, Merkel announced in October 2018 that she was stepping down as CDU leader and would not seek to retain the post of German Chancellor following the next federal election.^[1]

Political Parties[edit]

The following six parties are currently represented in the Bundestag. (Though technically separate, the CDU and CSU act as a single bloc for most practical purposes.)

Results[edit]

The greatest winner of the election was the Social Democratic Party, which received 11,949,756 votes (25.74% of those cast) and 206 of the 735 seats contested, making it the largest single party in the new Bundestag. This was an increase of 53 seats from its delegation after the 2017 election, which also represented the largest gain of any party. It won a plurality of the vote in all but four of the individual states, ranging from a low of 23.5% (Berlin) to a high of 37.3% (Saarland).

The CDU/CSU bloc came in second place, with a total of 11,173,806 votes (24.07% of those cast) and 196 seats (8,770,980 votes and 151 seats for the CDU; 2,402,826 votes and 45 seats for the CSU). The CSU maintained its traditional dominance in Bavaria, with 31.7% of the vote, while the CDU led in neighboring Baden-Württemberg with 24.8%. Overall, the bloc saw a decrease of 50 seats from 2017, the greatest loss of any of the Bundestag parties.

The Greens emerged as a clear third-place, with 6,848,215 votes (14.75% of those cast) and 118 seats. This marked a gain of 51 seats and a near-doubling of its 2017 results. It performed strongest in Hamburg and weakest in Saxony-Anhalt (24.9% and 6.5% of the vote, respectively).

The FDP narrowly edged out the AfD for fourth place, winning 5,316,698 votes (11.45% of those cast) and 92 seats, a modest increase from its 80 seats in 2017. It did best in Baden-Württemberg and worst in Berlin (15.3% and 8.1% respectively). The AfD, meanwhile, dropped to fifth place in the Bundestag (it had previously been in third place), with 4,802,097 votes (10.35% of those cast) and 83 seats, a slight drop from its 94 seats in 2017. It achieved a plurality of the vote in Saxony and Thuringia, where it won 24.6% and 24.0% of the vote respectively; its lowest total, conversely, was in Hamburg with 5.0% of the vote.

Unlike its fellow leftist parties, Die Linke (The Left) performed very poorly, netting only 2,269,993 votes (4.89% of the vote) and tumbling from 69 to 39 seats. It did best in Berlin and Thuringia with 11.4%, and worst in Bavaria with 2.8%.

In addition to these six parties, who maintained their presence in the Bundestag from 2017, a seventh entered the legislature: the South Schleswig Voters' Association, a regionalist party representing Germany's Danish and Frisian minorities, primarily in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It received 55,330 votes and was given 1 seat in the Bundestag.

References[edit]