Elections in Germany

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Several articles in several parts of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany govern elections and establish constitutional requirements such as the secret ballot, and the requirement that all elections be conducted in a free and fair manner. The Basic Law also requires that the federal legislature enact detailed federal laws to govern elections; electoral law(s). One such article is Article 38, regarding the election of deputies in the federal Bundestag. Article 38.2 of the Basic Law establishes universal suffrage: "Any person who has attained the age of eighteen shall be entitled to vote; any person who has attained the age of majority may be elected."

German federal elections are for all members of the Bundestag, which in turn determines who is the chancellor of Germany. The most recent federal election was held on 23 February 2025.

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	11,196,374	22.55	36	12,604,184	25.46	128	164
	Alternative for Germany	10,328,780	20.80	110	10,177,318	20.56	42	152
	Social Democratic Party of Germany	8,149,124	16.41	76	9,936,433	20.07	44	120
	Alliance 90/The Greens	5,762,380	11.61	73	5,443,393	11.00	12	85
	The Left (Germany)	4,356,532	8.77	58	3,933,297	7.95	6	64
	Christian Social Union in Bavaria	2,964,028	5.97	0	3,272,064	6.61	44	44
	Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance	2,472,947	4.98	0	299,401	0.60	0	0
	Free Democratic Party (Germany)	2,148,757	4.33	0	1,622,912	3.28	0	0
	Free Voters	769,279	1.55	0	1,254,565	2.53	0	0
	Human Environment Animal Protection Party	482,201	0.97	0	82,498	0.17	0	0
	Volt Germany	355,262	0.72	0	391,666	0.79	0	0
	Die PARTEI	242,741	0.49	0	122,268	0.25	0	0
	Grassroots Democratic Party of Germany	85,373	0.17	0	41,923	0.08	0	0
	Bündnis Deutschland	76,372	0.15	0	87,955	0.18	0	0
	South Schleswig Voters' Association	76,138	0.15	1	58,779	0.12	0	1
	Ecological Democratic Party	49,764	0.10	0	54,606	0.11	0	0
	Team Todenhöfer	24,553	0.05	0	9,783	0.02	0	0
	Party of Progress (Germany)	21,388	0.04	0	1,282	0.00	0	0
	Marxist–Leninist Party of Germany	19,551	0.04	0	24,218	0.05	0	0
	Party of Humanists	14,294	0.03	0	1,871	0.00	0	0
	Pirate Party Germany	13,800	0.03	0	2,151	0.00	0	0
	Bavaria Party	12,278	0.02	0	5,763	0.01	0	0
	Alliance C – Christians for Germany	11,768	0.02	0	2,021	0.00	0	0
	MERA25	6,994	0.01	0	658	0.00	0	0
	Values Union	6,736	0.01	0	2,849	0.01	0	0
	Human World (political party)	694	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0
	Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität	676	0.00	0	1,295	0.00	0	0
	Socialist Equality Party (Germany)	425	0.00	0	73	0.00	0	0
	Party for Rejuvenation Research	303	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0
	Independents	0	0.00	0	70,163	0.14	0	0
Total		49,649,512	100.00	354	49,505,389	100.00	276	630

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Social Democratic Party of Germany	11,509,048	37.86	163
	Centre Party (Germany)	5,980,216	19.67	91
	German Democratic Party	5,641,825	18.56	75
	German National People's Party	3,121,479	10.27	44
	Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany	2,317,290	7.62	22
	German People's Party	1,345,638	4.43	19
	Bavarian Peasants' League	275,125	0.91	4
	German-Hanoverian Party	77,226	0.25	1
	Schleswig-Holstein Farmers and Farmworkers Democracy	57,913	0.19	1
	Brunswick State Electoral Association	56,858	0.19	1
	Mecklenburg Village League	10,891	0.04	0
	German Peace Party	3,503	0.01	0
	German Officials', Employees' and Middle Class Party	1,438	0.00	0
	Christian Social Party (Germany)	664	0.00	0
	Middle Class Party	640	0.00	0
	German Social Aristocracy	279	0.00	0
	Democratic Middle Class Party	208	0.00	0
	Social Reform Party	45	0.00	0
Total		30,400,286	100.00	421

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Nazi Party	39,655,224	92.11	661
Against		3,398,249	7.89	0
Total		43,053,473	100.00	661

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Social Democratic Party of Germany	6,934,975	29.22	131
	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	5,978,636	25.19	115
	Free Democratic Party (Germany)	2,829,920	11.92	52
	Christian Social Union in Bavaria	1,380,448	5.82	24
	Communist Party of Germany	1,361,706	5.74	15
	Bavaria Party	986,478	4.16	17
	German Party (1947)	939,934	3.96	17
	Centre Party (Germany, 1945)	727,505	3.07	10
	Economic Reconstruction Union	681,888	2.87	12
	Deutsche Rechtspartei	429,031	1.81	5
	Radical Social Freedom Party	216,749	0.91	0
	South Schleswig Voters' Association	75,388	0.32	1
	European People's Movement of Germany	26,162	0.11	0
	Rheinish-Westfalian People's Party	21,931	0.09	0
	Independents	1,141,647	4.81	3
Total		23,732,398	100.00	402

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Bloc (East Germany)		Socialist Unity Party of Germany	7,943,949	66.07	450
			Christian Democratic Union (East Germany)			225
			Liberal Democratic Party of Germany			225
			Cooperatives			100
			Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany			75
			National Democratic Party of Germany (East Germany)			75
			Democratic Women's League of Germany			50
			Free German Trade Union Federation			50
			Free German Youth			50
			Cultural Association of the GDR			50
			Peasants Mutual Aid Association			50
			Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime			50
			Social Democratic Party in the GDR			25
			Independents			50
Against				4,080,272	33.93	0
Total				12,024,221	100.00	1,525

After the unification of Germany under Emperor Wilhelm I in 1871, elections were held to the German Reichstag or Imperial Assembly, which supplanted its namesake, the Reichstag of the North German Confederation. The Reichstag could be dissolved by the emperor or, after the abdication of Wilhelm II in 1918, the president of Germany. With the Weimar Republic's Constitution of 1919, the voting system changed from single-member constituencies to proportional representation. The election age was reduced from 25 to 20 years of age.^[1] Women's suffrage had already been established by a new electoral law in 1918 following the November Revolution of that year.

Following the Nazi seizure of power in January 1933, another national election was held on 5 March. This was the last competitive election before World War II, although it was neither free nor fair. Violence and intimidation by the Sturmabteilung, Schutzstaffel and Der Stahlhelm had been underway for months against trade-unionists, communists, social democrats, and even centre-right Catholics.^[2] On 27 February, just prior to the election, the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended freedom of the press and most civil liberties. Mass arrests followed, including all Communist and several Social Democrat delegates to the Reichstag. 50000 members of the Hilfspolizei (auxiliary Nazi police) "monitored" polling places on election day to further intimidate voters.^[3] While the Nazi Party performed better than it had in the elections of November 1932, it still won only 33% of the vote. By placing their rivals in jail and intimidating others not to take their seats, the Nazis went from a plurality to the majority. Just two weeks after the election, the Enabling Act of 1933 effectively gave Hitler dictatorial power. Three more elections were held in Nazi Germany before the war. They all took the form of a one-question referendum, asking voters to approve a predetermined list of candidates composed exclusively of Nazis and nominally independent "guests" of the party.

Federal elections (Bundestagswahlen) are conducted approximately every four years, resulting from the constitutional requirement for elections to be held 46 to 48 months after the assembly of the Bundestag.^[4] Elections can be held earlier in exceptional constitutional circumstances: for example, were the Chancellor to lose a vote of confidence in the Bundestag, then, during a grace period before the Bundestag can vote in a replacement Chancellor, the Chancellor could request the Federal President to dissolve the Bundestag and hold elections. Should the Bundestag be dismissed before the four-year period has ended, elections must be held within 100 days. The exact date of the election is chosen by the President^[5] and must be a Sunday or public holiday.

German nationals over the age of 18 who have resided in Germany for at least three months are eligible to vote. Eligibility for candidacy is essentially the same.

The federal legislature in Germany has a one chamber parliament—the Bundestag (Federal Diet); the Bundesrat (Federal Council) represents the States (in particular the state Governments) and is not considered a chamber as its members are not elected. The Bundestag is elected using a mixed member proportional system. The Bundestag has 598 nominal members, elected for a four-year term. Half, 299 members, are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting, while a further 299 members are allocated from party lists to achieve a proportional distribution in the legislature, conducted according to a form of proportional representation called the Mixed member proportional representation system (MMP). Voters vote once for a constituency representative, and a second time for a party, and the lists are used to make the party balances match the distribution of second votes. Overhang seats may add to the nominal number of 598 members: for example, in the 2009 federal election there were 24 overhang seats, giving a total of 622 seats. This is caused by larger parties winning additional single-member constituencies above the totals determined by their proportional party vote.

Germany has a multi-party system with two historically strong political parties and some other third parties also represented in the Bundestag. Since 1990, and including the results of the most recent federal election in 2021, just six main political parties have managed to secure representation in the Bundestag (counting the CDU and CSU as one, and excluding recognised minority group parties such as the SSW which are exempted in federal law from the 5% threshold that is normally required to be breached in order to win party-list seats).

In 2008, some modifications to the electoral system were required under an order of the Federal Constitutional Court. The court had found that a provision in the Federal Election Law made it possible for a party to experience a negative vote weight, thus losing seats due to more votes, and found that this violated the constitutional guarantee of the electoral system being equal and direct.^[6]

The court allowed three years to amend the law. Accordingly, the 2009 federal election was allowed to proceed under the previous system. The changes were due by 30 June 2011, but appropriate legislation was not completed by that deadline. A new electoral law was enacted in late 2011, but declared unconstitutional once again by the Federal Constitutional Court upon lawsuits from the opposition parties and a group of some 4,000 private citizens.^[7]

Finally, four of the five factions in the Bundestag agreed on an electoral reform whereby the number of seats in the Bundestag will be increased as much as necessary to ensure that any overhang seats are compensated through apportioned leveling seats, to ensure full proportionality according to the political party's share of party votes at the national level.^[8] The Bundestag approved and enacted the new electoral reform in February 2013.^[9]

• 1st: 1949 West German federal election
• 2nd: 1953 West German federal election
• 3rd: 1957 West German federal election
• 4th: 1961 West German federal election
• 5th: 1965 West German federal election
• 6th: 1969 West German federal election
• 7th: 1972 West German federal election
• 8th: 1976 West German federal election
• 9th: 1980 West German federal election
• 10th: 1983 West German federal election
• 11th: 1987 West German federal election
• 12th: 1990 German federal election (1st of the re-united Germany)
• 13th: 1994 German federal election
• 14th: 1998 German federal election
• 15th: 2002 German federal election
• 16th: 2005 German federal election
• 17th: 2009 German federal election
• 18th: 2013 German federal election
• 19th: 2017 German federal election
• 20th: 2021 German federal election
• 21st: 2025 German federal election

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  1953
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  1957
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  1961
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  1980
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  2021

Every 5 years, Germany, as a founding member of the European Union, votes to select their delegates to the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected through a proportional party list system, which, unlike federal elections, do not require a minimum threshold to win seats or constituency seats. The voting age is set at 16.^[10]

• 1st: 1979 European Parliament election in West Germany
• 2nd: 1984 European Parliament election in West Germany
• 3rd: 1989 European Parliament election in West Germany
• 4th: 1994 European Parliament election in Germany
• 5th: 1999 European Parliament election in Germany
• 6th: 2004 European Parliament election in Germany
• 7th: 2009 European Parliament election in Germany
• 8th: 2014 European Parliament election in Germany
• 9th: 2019 European Parliament election in Germany
• 10th 2024 European Parliament election in Germany

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  2009
• 
  2014
• 
  2019
• 
  2024

Germans do not directly vote for their President. Instead the President is elected every 5 years by the Federal Convention. All members of the Bundestag and an equal number of state delegates elected by the state parliaments specifically for this purpose, proportional to their population, comprise the voters of the convention.^[11]

State elections are conducted under various rules set by the states. In general they are conducted according to some form of party-list proportional representation, either the same as the federal system or some simplified version. The election period is generally four to five years, and the dates of elections vary from state to state.

In the German Democratic Republic, elections to the Volkskammer were effectively controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and state hierarchy, even though multiple pro forma parties existed. The 18 March 1990 election were the first free ones held in the GDR, producing a government whose major mandate was to negotiate an end to itself and its state.^{[citation needed]}

Prior to the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany did not have free elections. Polling places were under surveillance by the state security apparatuses and the ruling party, the SED, presented voters with a slate of proposed candidates. Voters could optionally enter a booth to strike any candidates the voter did not want; a voter who agreed with the SED's full list simply folded the unmarked ballot in half and placed it into the ballot box. Entering a voting booth was considered suspicious and was noted by the state security apparatuses, which could lead to consequences later for the voter. East German voters commonly referred to the act of voting as "folding" (German: falten). Election outcomes prior to 1990 commonly saw 99% of voters in favor of the suggested slate of candidates. On top of this, the government engaged in electoral fraud and commonly falsified both results and voter turnout percentages, even as late as the May 1989 municipal elections.^[12][13]

• 1949 East German Constitutional Assembly election
• 1950 East German general election
• 1954 East German general election
• 1958 East German general election
• 1963 East German general election
• 1967 East German general election
• 1971 East German general election
• 1976 East German general election
• 1981 East German general election
• 1986 East German general election
• 1990 East German general election

Local elections in Germany (German: Kommunalwahlen) include elections for most regional and local subdivisions, unless their representatives are appointed or elected by another assembly or office. Such local elections are conducted for representatives in districts, cities, towns, villages and various other administrative regional organizations. In cities and towns local elections usually include voting for a lord mayor or mayor. Smaller villages and settlements may elect a representative (German: Ortsvorsteher) with limited administrative power. Local elections are also often combined with polls about important local matters and questions of general public interest (i.e. the construction of local roads or other infrastructure facilities). While such polls are not legally binding in most cases, their results have considerable influence on local political decisions.^{[citation needed]}

After the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 to strengthen the European integration, Germany and other EU member states implemented legislative changes to grant foreigners of other EU countries the right to vote in local elections in their host country. Foreign EU citizens can vote in elections on district and municipal level in Germany, after the German states adapted their regulations between 1995 and 1998.^{[citation needed]}

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• Electoral system of Germany
• Referendums in Germany

• Kitschelt, Herbert (October 2003). "Political-economic context and partisan strategies in the German federal elections, 1990–2002". West European Politics. 26 (4): 125–152. doi:10.1080/01402380312331280718. S2CID 154479425.
• Manow, Philip (January 2007). "Electoral rules and legislative turnover: Evidence from Germany's mixed electoral system". West European Politics. 30 (1): 195–207. doi:10.1080/01402380601019852. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0012-48E7-7. S2CID 59398190.

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Parties and elections
• Opinion poll tracker with data, graph and daily average
• Latest polling results for state and federal elections (in German)
• The Federal Returning Officer. Official Site of the Federal Returning Officer.
• Collection of German Election Posters of Weimar Republic and Federal Republic
• NSD: European Election Database – Germany Archived 5 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990–2009