2025 German federal election

2025 German federal election

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All 630 seats in the Bundestag 316 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	60,510,631
Turnout	82.5% ( 6.2 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Friedrich Merz Alice Weidel Olaf Scholz Party CDU/CSU AfD SPD Last election 24.1%, 197 seats 10.4%, 83 seats 25.7%, 206 seats Seats before 196 76 207 Seats won 208 152 120 Seat change 11 69 86 Popular vote 14,160,402 10,328,780 8,149,124 Percentage 28.5% 20.8% 16.4% Swing 4.4 pp 10.4 pp 9.3 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Candidate Robert Habeck[a] Jan van Aken & Heidi Reichinnek Stefan Seidler Party Greens Left SSW Last election 14.7%, 118 seats 4.9%, 39 seats 0.12%, 1 seat Seats before 117 28 1 Seats won 85 64 1 Seat change 33 25 0 Popular vote 5,762,380 4,356,532 76,138 Percentage 11.6% 8.8% 0.15%[b] Swing 3.1 pp 3.9 pp 0.03 pp   Seventh party Eighth party   Candidate Sahra Wagenknecht Christian Lindner Party BSW FDP Last election Did not exist 11.4%, 91 seats[c] Seats before 10[d] 90 Seats won 0 0 Seat change New party 91 Popular vote 2,472,947 2,148,757 Percentage 4.98% 4.3% Swing New party 7.1 pp
Results of the election. The main map shows constituency winners, and results for the proportional list seats are shown in the bottom left.
Government before election Scholz cabinet SPD–Green Government after election Merz cabinet CDU/CSU–SPD

The 2025 German federal election was held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag, down from 736 in 2021 due to reforms in seat distribution. The 2025 election took place seven months ahead of schedule due to the 2024 collapse of the incumbent governing coalition. Following the loss of his majority, the chancellor called and intentionally lost a motion of confidence, which enabled the approval of a new election by the president. The 2025 election was the fourth early election in post-war German history, and the first since 2005.^[1]

Three opposition parties increased their votes in the election, compared with the previous federal election in 2021. The conservative CDU/CSU alliance became the largest group in the Bundestag, with 28.5% of votes. Although this result was well below the 41.5% vote Angela Merkel had achieved in 2013 and its second to worst since 1949, it positioned them to lead the new government. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 20.8% doubled its share and achieved its best result in nation-wide German elections, moving into second place, without any other party willing to work with them. The socialist Left party, polling well under 5% until January 2025, massively improved within a few weeks to 9%. On the other hand, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a populist splinter from the Left, fell in the polls, and at 4.98% narrowly failed to enter the Bundestag.

The three parties of the formerly governing "Traffic light coalition" all lost support. The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) lost over nine percentage points and dropped to third rank with just 16.4%, their worst result since 1887. Their remaining junior partner, The Greens, also declined from 15% to 12%, still their second best ever result. The Free Democratic Party (FDP), whose departure from the government precipitated the election, recorded their worst historical result with 4.3%, and lost all representation in the Bundestag, as had previously happened in 2013.

The South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW), which as a party representing the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein is exempt from the 5% threshold, retained their single seat with 76,138 total votes (0.15%).^[2][3][4][5] Voter turnout was 82.5%, a six percentage point increase from 2021, and the highest since German reunification.^[6] On 9 April 2025, the CDU/CSU and SPD secured a ruling coalition agreement.^[7][8]

The German parliament elected Friedrich Merz as chancellor on 6 May 2025. Earlier the same day, Merz failed to be confirmed chancellor in the first round of voting, thus requiring a second round—a situation unprecedented in Germany's postwar history.^[9]

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