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Several articles in several parts of theBasic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany govern elections and establish constitutional requirements such as thesecret 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 federalBundestag. 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 thechancellor of Germany. The most recent federal election was heldon 23 February 2025.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 theunification of Germany underEmperorWilhelm I in 1871, elections were held to the GermanReichstag or Imperial Assembly, which supplanted its namesake, theReichstag of theNorth German Confederation. The Reichstag could be dissolved by the emperor or, after theabdication ofWilhelm II in 1918, thepresident of Germany. With theWeimar Republic'sConstitution 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 theNovember Revolution of that year.
Following theNazi seizure of power in January 1933, anothernational 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 theSturmabteilung,Schutzstaffel andDer Stahlhelm had been underway for months againsttrade-unionists,communists,social democrats, and evencentre-right Catholics.[2] On 27 February, just prior to the election, theReichstag Fire Decree suspendedfreedom of the press and mostcivil liberties. Mass arrests followed, including allCommunist and severalSocial Democrat delegates to the Reichstag. 50000 members of theHilfspolizei (auxiliary Nazi police) "monitored" polling places on election day to further intimidate voters.[3] While the Nazi Party performed better than it had in theelections 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, theEnabling 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 theconstitutional 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 thePresident[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 federallegislature in Germany has a one chamber parliament—theBundestag (Federal Diet); theBundesrat (Federal Council) represents theStates (in particular the state Governments) and is not considered a chamber as its members are not elected. The Bundestag is elected using amixed member proportional system. The Bundestag has 598 nominal members, elected for a four-year term. Half, 299 members, are elected insingle-member constituencies byfirst-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 ofproportional representation called theMixed 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 the2009 federal election there were 24overhang 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 amulti-party system with two historically strongpolitical 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 theFederal Constitutional Court. The court had found that a provision in the Federal Election Law made it possible for a party to experience anegative vote weight, thuslosing seats due tomore 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, the2009 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 arecompensated through apportionedleveling 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]
Every 5 years, Germany, as a founding member of theEuropean Union, votes to select their delegates to theEuropean 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. Thevoting age is set at 16.[10]
Germans do not directly vote for theirPresident. Instead the President is elected every 5 years by theFederal Convention. All members of the Bundestag and an equal number of state delegates elected by thestate 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 thestates. 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 theGerman Democratic Republic, elections to theVolkskammer were effectively controlled by theSocialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and state hierarchy, even though multiplepro forma parties existed. The18 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 theFall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany did not havefree 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 inelectoral fraud and commonly falsified both results and voter turnout percentages, even as late as the May 1989 municipal elections.[12][13]
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 indistricts, cities, towns, villages and various other administrative regional organizations. In cities and towns local elections usually include voting for alord mayor ormayor. 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 theMaastricht Treaty of 1992 to strengthen the European integration, Germany and otherEU member states implemented legislative changes to grant foreigners of other EU countries theright to vote in local elections in their host country. Foreign EU citizens can vote in elections on district and municipal level in Germany, after theGerman states adapted their regulations between 1995 and 1998.[citation needed]
