The next German federal election will be held on or before 26 October 2025 to elect the members of the 21st Bundestag.
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All 630 seats in the Bundestag 316 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Basic Law and the Federal Election Act provide that federal elections must be held on a Sunday or on a national holiday[b] no earlier than 46 and no later than 48 months after the first sitting of a Bundestag, unless the Bundestag is dissolved earlier. The 20th and sitting Bundestag held its first sitting on 26 October 2021.[1] Therefore, the next election has to take place on one of the following possible dates:
The exact date will be determined by the president of Germany in due course.[2] Federal elections can be held earlier if the president of Germany dissolves the Bundestag and schedules a snap election. They may only do so under two possible scenarios described by the Basic Law.
In both cases, federal elections would have to take place on a Sunday or national holiday no later than 60 days after the dissolution.[3][4][c] Under both scenarios, a snap election is not possible during a state of defence. Federal elections can also be held later, if a state of defence is declared. If a state of defence prohibits a scheduled federal election and prolongs a legislative period, new elections have to take place no later than six months after the end of the state of defence.
After the 2021 German federal election produced a Bundestag with 736 members – which made it the largest freely elected parliament in the world – renewed debate began over the system of awarding overhang and leveling seats in place since the 2013 election. The Scholz cabinet passed a reform law in March 2023 to fix the size of future Bundestags at 630 members. This is achieved by eliminating all overhang and leveling seats, as well as the constituency seat rule (Grundmandatsklausel) which awards full proportional representation to parties winning at least three constituency seats, even if they do not meet the five-percent threshold. Under the new legislation, a party's total number of seats will be determined solely by its share of party-list votes (Zweitstimmen). If a party wins more constituency seats in a state than it is proportionally entitled to in that state, it will only be awarded the amount of constituency seats it is proportionally entitled to; a number of its constituency winners would be excluded from the Bundestag, in order of those that received the smallest vote shares. Parties representing minority groups are still exempt from the five-percent threshold.
The law is subject to constitutional challenges; the CSU and The Left, both of whom benefitted from the previous system at the 2021 election, appealed to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to refuse to sign it, though he did so after personally determining he believed it was constitutional.[5][6] Immediately after the law was promulgated in the Federal Law Journal on 13 June, both party organizations, as well as the government of Bavaria controlled by the CSU, filed formal complaints to the Federal Constitutional Court.[7][8]
The table below lists the parties represented in the 20th Bundestag.
Parties | Leader(s) | Leading candidate(s) | Ideology | Seats | Status | ||||
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Last election | Before election | ||||||||
Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands |
Saskia Esken Lars Klingbeil |
Olaf Scholz | Social democracy | 206 / 736
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207 / 735
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Governing coalition | |||
Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands |
Friedrich Merz | — | Christian democracy | 197 / 736
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197 / 735
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Opposition | |||
Christian Social Union in Bavaria Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern |
Markus Söder | ||||||||
Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen |
Ricarda Lang Omid Nouripour |
— | Green politics | 118 / 736
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118 / 735
|
Governing coalition | |||
Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei |
Christian Lindner | — | Classical liberalism | 92 / 736
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91 / 735
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Alternative for Germany Alternative für Deutschland |
Alice Weidel Tino Chrupalla |
— | Right-wing populism | 83 / 736
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78 / 735
|
Opposition | |||
The Left Die Linke |
Janine Wissler Martin Schirdewan |
— | Democratic socialism | 39 / 736
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28 / 735
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Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht | Sahra Wagenknecht Amira Mohamed Ali |
— | Left-wing populism | 0 / 736
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10 / 735
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Ungrouped | SSW | Christian Dirschauer | — | Minority rights | 1 / 736
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1 / 735
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AfD | — | — | — | 0 / 736
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1 / 735
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Independent | — | — | — | 0 / 736
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4 / 735
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