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2025 German federal election

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All 630 seats in the Bundestag 316 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Candidate Olaf Scholz Friedrich Merz Robert Habeck Party SPD CDU/CSU Greens Last election 25.7%, 206 seats 24.1%, 197 seats 14.7%, 118 seats Current seats 207 196 117   Candidate Christian Lindner Alice Weidel Jan van Aken & Heidi Reichinnek Party FDP AfD Left Last election 11.4%, 91 seats 10.4%, 83 seats 4.9%, 39 seats Current seats 89 76 28   Candidate Sahra Wagenknecht Party BSW Last election N/A Current seats 10
A map of Bundestag constituencies to be used at the next election.
Incumbent Government Scholz cabinet SPD–Green

Federal elections in Germany will be held on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag. Originally scheduled for 28 September 2025, the elections were brought forward due to the collapse of the governing coalition during the 2024 German government crisis. It is the fourth snap election in the history of post-war Germany after those in 1972, 1983 and 2005.

Background

Date assignment

The Basic Law and the Federal Election Act provide that federal elections must be held on a Sunday or on a national holiday 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. Therefore, the next regular election was to take place on a Sunday between 31 August 2025 and 26 October 2025. In August 2024, the Federal Cabinet initially recommended 28 September 2025 as the date of the election, which was approved by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Snap election

Federal elections can be held earlier if the President dissolves the Bundestag and schedules a snap election. They may only do so under two possible scenarios described by the Basic Law.

1. After a federal election or any other vacancy in the chancellor's office, if the Bundestag fails to elect a chancellor with an absolute majority of its members by the 15th day after the first ballot, the president is free to either appoint the candidate who received a plurality of votes as chancellor or to dissolve the Bundestag (in accordance with Article 63, Section 4 of the Basic Law).
2. If the chancellor proposes a motion of confidence which fails, they may ask the president to dissolve the Bundestag. The president is free to grant or to deny the chancellor's request (in accordance with Article 68 of 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.

Following a government crisis, FDP leader Christian Lindner was dismissed from the incumbent government by Olaf Scholz on 6 November 2024, triggering the collapse of the traffic light coalition and leaving the government without a majority. On the same day, Chancellor Scholz announced he would submit a motion of confidence in order to hold a snap election; this was initially planned for January 2025 but was brought forward after pressure from the opposition.

Scholz submitted a motion of confidence to the Bundestag on 11 December 2024, which was brought to a vote on 16 December. The motion required an absolute majority of 367 yes votes to pass, and failed with 207 yes votes, 394 no votes, 116 abstentions, and 16 absent or not voting. Of those members who were present and voting, the SPD bloc unanimously voted for confidence, while all opposition blocs except for three members from the AfD voted against confidence. All Green members abstained to ensure the motion would fail without voting against its own coalition.

After the vote's failure, Scholz went to Bellevue Palace to meet with President Steinmeier and recommend a dissolution. The governing parties and the CDU/CSU agreed that 23 February 2025 should be the date for the snap election. The President is not obliged to grant a dissolution, and the Basic Law allows him 21 days to make a decision. The President also has the sole authority to set the election date, though he agreed with the parties' proposal. Steinmeier first held consultations with all party leaders, as he has a constitutional duty to determine whether there is any possible majority in the current Bundestag. On 20 December, Steinmeier's office released a statement confirming that the talks were completed and that there was no possible majority. Steinmeier officially dissolved the Bundestag on 27 December, at the same time setting the election date as 23 February.

Electoral system

Germany has a mixed-member proportional electoral system. Voters have two votes: the first vote is used to directly elect a candidate in their own constituency using first-past-the-post, and the second vote is for a party's electoral list. To enter the Bundestag, a party must either get five percent of the nationwide second vote or get the plurality of the vote in three constituencies. Both cases result in that party entering the Bundestag, and it receives list seats in addition to any constituency seats it has won such that its total number of seats is in proportion to its national share of the second vote.

2023 reform

Prior to this election, if a party won enough constituencies in a state to exceed its proportional entitlement, it was allowed to keep the so-called overhang seats. The addition of leveling seats for other parties, in order to keep the composition of the Bundestag proportional, led to a large amount of additional seats in 2017 and 2021.

After the 2021 election produced a Bundestag with 736 members – which made it the largest freely elected parliament in the world – renewed debate began over the system that had been in place since the 2013 election. The Bundestag passed a reform law in March 2023 to fix the size of any future Bundestag at 630 members. It introduced two major changes: The seat distribution would be determined solely through each party's share of the second vote (Zweitstimmendeckung, "second vote coverage") and the elimination of the three-constituency rule (Grundmandatsklausel, "basic mandate clause"). Parties are no longer allowed to keep overhang seats; if a party wins overhang seats in a state, its constituency winners are excluded from the Bundestag in decreasing order of their first vote share. As well, if a party wins one or two constituencies but does not pass the threshold – a scenario which has only happened once, to the PDS in 2002 – those winners are also now excluded instead of seated. However, if an independent candidate wins a constituency (which has not happened since 1949), they are still seated.

Both the CSU and The Left opposed the law's changes. In the 2021 election, The Left fell short of the five-percent threshold but remained in the Bundestag because it won three constituencies, whereas the CSU barely crossed the threshold with 5.2% of the nationwide second vote while winning 45 of the 46 constituencies in Bavaria. The CSU was also the only party to win overhang seats at that election. Both parties appealed to President Steinmeier to veto it; nevertheless, Steinmeier signed the bill after determining through his office it was constitutional. Both party organizations, as well as the government of Bavaria controlled by the CSU, filed formal complaints to the Federal Constitutional Court.

Hearings were held on 23 and 24 April 2024. On 30 July 2024, the court largely upheld the new electoral law. However, it ruled that a five-percent threshold without any exceptions is unconstitutional; though it recognized the threshold is necessary to prevent fragmentation, it held there must be measures to minimize wasted votes. In order to settle electoral law in sufficient time for this election, as an interim measure the court re-introduced the basic mandate clause as it was "until there is a new regulation on the matter". Two possibilities were considered in drafts of the original reform law: the first is the "modified basic mandate clause" or "constituency clause". A party below the five-percent hurdle which wins at least three constituencies would not receive full proportional representation, but their winners would be seated if their second-vote share in the respective state is high enough to allocate them seats through the normal procedure. (This is similar to how parties representing recognized minorities, which are exempt from the threshold, are allocated list seats.) Re-introducing the basic mandate clause with a higher requirement of five constituencies was also proposed. In its ruling, the court confirmed both would be constitutional.

Interference from abroad

Security authorities in Germany warn that they expect interference in the federal election campaign from Russia, but also the USA. The focus is on officially controlled disinformation campaigns from Russia, like in the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, it is conceivable that powers from abroad will attempt to discredit undesirable candidates and raise doubts about the legality and correct conduct of the election.

Political parties and leaders

The table below lists the parties represented in the 20th Bundestag.

Candidates

Campaign

Nominations and lead candidates

In contrast to the 2021 election, the Kanzlerfrage (chancellor question) for the CDU/CSU bloc was resolved relatively quickly. After good performances for the CDU in September 2024 state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, the two other prospective candidates – North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Hendrik Wüst and Bavaria Minister-President and CSU leader Markus Söder – expressed their full support for Friedrich Merz. Söder was thought to pursue another attempt at the nomination; many CDU rank-and-file, however, saw him in a negative light after a months-long battle with Armin Laschet for the nomination in 2021, followed by personal attacks on Laschet that were seen as undermining the Union campaign, as well as his categorical ruling-out of any coalition with the Greens after this election. (The CSU has still only provided the Union bloc's lead candidate twice: in 1980 and 2002.)

At The Left's party convention in October, former lead candidate Gregor Gysi announced an effort called Mission Silberlocke ("Mission Silver Locks") to bolster the party's prospects in the face of infighting and faltering polling. Gysi committed to run for re-election in his constituency of Berlin-Treptow – Köpenick, with former parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch running for a third time in Rostock – Landkreis Rostock II and former Minister-President of Thuringia Bodo Ramelow – the only Left member to have led a state government – contesting a Bundestag seat for the first time since 2005 in Erfurt – Weimar – Weimarer Land II. The goal is to capitalize on the three men's relatively high personal popularities and give The Left the best chance possible to win three constituencies and ensure they remain in the Bundestag, and the effort is nicknamed in humorous reference to the their advanced ages. Party co-leader Ines Schwerdtner is also running to replace the retiring longtime MdB Gesine Lötzsch in the stronghold of Berlin-Lichtenberg and parliamentary co-eader Sören Pellmann is seeking re-election in Leipzig II, which are both seen as likely holds for The Left. Experts also rated Gysi and Ramelow as favorites to win their respective constituencies, which combined would retain the bloc's representation. Jan van Aken was elected party co-chair alongside Schwerdtner on the same day; however, in November, van Aken and parliamentary co-leader Heidi Reichinnek were selected as The Left's dual lead candidacy for the campaign.

In November, various SPD legislators and leading figures – most prominently former party leader Sigmar Gabriel – began publicly calling for defence minister Boris Pistorius to be designated the party's chancellor candidate owing to its and Scholz's poor polling. Polling for ARD showed Pistorius as the most favorably viewed national politician: 60% of voters thought he would be a good chancellor, compared to 42% for Merz and 21% for Scholz. In a video released on 21 November, Pistorius ended what had become two weeks of public debate by disavowing any interest in running for chancellor and expressing his full support for Scholz. Such a protracted and public debate, and party leadership's apparent inability to quickly control or restrain it, was seen as embarrassing and damaging; Jusos president Philipp Türmer directly called out party leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil for the "shitshow" at their national congress the following weekend. Nonetheless, Scholz was unanimously renominated as chancellor candidate by the party's executive on 25 November, which will be confirmed at the party's national convention in January.

On 17 November, the Greens nominated sitting vice chancellor Robert Habeck as its chancellor candidate; Habeck and foreign minister Annalena Baerbock remain their co-lead candidates, though Baerbock was the chancellor candidate in 2021. Habeck's campaign does not use the term chancellor candidate and instead refers to him as a "Candidate for the people of Germany" (Kandidat für die Menschen in Deutschland), though the media uses the usual term.

On 7 December, the AfD executive nominated Alice Weidel as its chancellor candidate. This is the first time the party has referred to its leader as a chancellor candidate (Kanzlerkandidat/in), a term which is normally reserved for the parties (SPD, Greens and CDU/CSU) which are seen as having a realistic chance of becoming a senior coalition partner and providing a chancellor, instead of the term lead candidate (Spitzenkandidat/in) which is normally used for smaller parties. The AfD has no path to enter government as no other parties are willing to work with it.

BSW also decided to nominate Sahra Wagenknecht as a chancellor candidate on 16 December. General secretary Christian Heye flatly conceded the party, which was polling between four and eight percent at the time, had no actual chance of providing a chancellor and said that "we are neither imagining things nor are we megalomanical". He blamed the "inflation" of the term's usage in forcing their hand to avoid a perceived disadvantage in the campaign, such as missing out on invitations to televised debates.

FDP "D-Day" paper

On 15 November, Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung independently reported that the FDP had been planning a strategy to break the coalition for several weeks. They reported on the existence of a detailed working paper which used controversial militaristic language: the 18-page economic report that resulted in Lindner's firing was called "the torpedo", and the upcoming election campaign was described as "open battle". Most contentious was that the day of the report's publication was referred to as "D-Day" – which in German is used exclusively in reference to the Allied invasion of Normandy and has a violent connotation, whereas the equivalent generic term for "decision day" would be Tag X. The use of the language of war to refer to the political process led to heavy criticism.

This also contradicted Lindner's assertion that the end of the government was a "calculated break" on the part of Scholz. Criticism came from the SPD upon the revelation that their coalition partner had apparently not been acting in good faith for weeks: parliamentary leader Rolf Mützenich described himself as "feeling deceived and disappointed" and "horrified" by the controversial language. In an 18 November interview with RTL and n-tv, FDP general secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai flatly denied the use of the term "D-Day" and stated the party's leadership was not aware of the paper. Lindner did not deny the paper's existence but simply replied to reporters "We are in a campaign. Where is the news here?"

Media speculation continued as to what degree the FDP was responsible for the coalition's end. On the morning of 28 November, the online news portal Table.Media published excerpts of an eight-page document alleged to be the working paper; it was indeed titled "D-Day Scenarios and Actions" and laid out a strategy as detailed as the original reporting surmised, including strategies to undermine the coalition, communication tactics, and pre-written quotations for Lindner. SZ confronted party leaders with the excerpts and gave them a 1:30 p.m. deadline to respond to questions. The party did not, but instead officially released the full paper at 6 p.m. with a statement from Djir-Sarai claiming it was "to prevent false impressions ... of the paper" by the media.

According to the party, the paper was first prepared by Federal Managing Director Carsten Reymann on 24 October "to deal with the questions surrounding how the exit of the FDP from the government could be communicated", and the "purely technical paper" was not presented to legislators or members of the government. Djir-Sarai and Reymann resigned the next day to take responsibility for the paper's contents. SPD acting general secretary Matthias Miersch described Djir-Sarai as "a transparent scapegoat" to protect Lindner and called it "unimaginable" that the party leader would not know of the paper's existence. In a written statement released that evening, Lindner again denied any knowledge of the paper and stated he would not have approved of it, and that it was only circulated among internal party staffers and not any elected officials.

Marco Buschmann, who served as justice minister until the traffic light coalition's collapse, was appointed to succeed Djir-Sarai as general secretary of the FDP on 1 December.

Debates and interviews

Immediately after the confidence vote's failure, public broadcasters ARD and ZDF announced their plans to hold two debates featuring chancellor candidates from four parties. Scholz and Merz were invited to a debate on 9 February, while Habeck and Weidel were invited to a separate face-off on 10 February. This represented a change from the 2021 campaign, when ARD and ZDF held a three-way debate between the Union, SPD and Green chancellor candidates. Representatives of AfD and the Greens complained about their candidates' exclusions and claimed the public broadcasters had been biased in their decision. Habeck's campaign spokesperson announced he would decline the invitation and accused ARD and ZDF of "intervening" in the campaign in favor of the two established parties. Weidel's spokesperson demanded her inclusion in a three-way debate based on the AfD's second place in opinion polls, and said the party was reviewing legal action against the broadcasters. Lindner and Wagenknecht both offered to take Habeck's place in the second debate.

On 18 December, Table.Media reported that Scholz had agreed to participate in the ARD–ZDF debate on the condition that he would face off only against Merz, which was accepted by the public broadcasters. Green chief whip Irene Mihalic demanded an explanation from the broadcasters. An ARD spokesperson denied the report and claimed there was no influence by politicians or conditions involved in the decision. According to the spokesperson, the two-way debate would feature the incumbent as well as the challenger with the best chances to succeed him. Habeck declined his invitation in writing to ARD on 20 December, and the broadcasters cancelled the planned second debate.

The broadcasters also announced plans for two further four-way interview programmes. Scholz, Merz, Habeck and Weidel would separately face questions from an audience in two programmes to be held on 13 and 17 February. They will also hold their usual "closing roundtable" (Schlussrunde) with the leaders of all parties currently represented in the Bundestag on 20 February.

RTL also announced plans for a debate between Merz and Scholz on the Sunday before the proposed election date. The channel ultimately plans two additional head-to-head debates between other parties' leading candidates on the same night. A spokesperson for the broadcaster said "we are convinced that one debate with the current five chancellor candidates would be nothing more than a talk show". The Left, which was not invited, stated it was considering legal action against its omission. RTL claimed in a statement that The Left had not been invited due to trailing in opinion polls behind the other parties.

ProSiebenSat.1 editor-in-chief Sven Pietsch stated in November that the broadcaster had invited Union, SPD, the Greens and AfD to several debates and was in talks with the parties, but did not disclose further details at the time. The broadcaster previously hosted a three-way debate between the Union, SPD and Green candidates ahead of the 2021 election, which aired on on ProSieben, Sat.1 and Kabel eins.

Members of Parliament standing down

Opinion polls

Notes

1. Chancellor candidate; co-lead candidate with Annalena Baerbock.
2. In Germany, with the exception of the German Unity Day, all holidays are determined on the state level, and because of that, they do not necessarily apply for all German states. Currently, legal holidays in all states are New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Labour Day, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, German Unity Day, First Christmas Day, and Second Christmas Day (Boxing Day).
3. Possibility 1 has not happened since 1949; possibility 2 has been used a total of four times (in 1972, 1982, 2005, and this election).
4. ^ Not a debate; the candidates separately answer questions posed by a live audience in a town hall format

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v t e Elections and referendums in Germany
Parliamentary elections	1848 1867 (Feb) 1867 (Aug) 1868 1871 1874 1877 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1898 1903 1907 1912 1919 1920 1924 (May) 1924 (Dec) 1928 1930 1932 (July) 1932 (Nov) 1933 (Mar) 1933 (Nov) 1936 1938 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1998 2002 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025
Presidential elections	1925 1932
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Referendums	1926 1929 1933 1934 1936 1938
See also: Elections and referendums in Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thuringia former: East Germany Free State of Prussia East Prussia

• 2025 elections in Germany
• 2025 elections in Europe
• Federal elections in Germany
• February 2025 events in Germany