2021 German federal election

The 2021 German federal election was held on 26 September 2021.

2021 German federal election

26 September 2021 (2021-09-26)
All 735 seats in the Bundestag, including 137 overhang and leveling seats 368 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	61,168,234 0.8%
Turnout	46,837,084 (76.6%) 0.4 pp
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Olaf Scholz Armin Laschet Annalena Baerbock Party SPD CDU/CSU Green Leader since 10 August 2020 16 January 2021 27 January 2018 Leader's seat Potsdam – Potsdam-Mittelmark II – Teltow-Fläming II North Rhine-Westphalia (list) Brandenburg (list) Last election 20.5%, 153 seats 32.9%, 246 seats 8.9%, 67 seats Seats won 206 196 118 Seat change 53 50 51 Popular vote 11,949,756 11,173,806 6,848,215 Percentage 25.7% 24.1% 14.8% Swing 5.2 pp 8.8 pp 5.9 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Candidate Christian Lindner Alice Weidel & Tino Chrupalla Janine Wissler & Dietmar Bartsch Party FDP AfD Leader since 7 December 2013 24 May 2021 30 November 2019 27 February 2021 2 May 2021 Leader's seat North Rhine-Westphalia (list) Baden-Württemberg (list) Görlitz Hesse (list) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (list) Last election 10.7%, 80 seats 12.6%, 94 seats 9.2%, 69 seats Seats won 92 83 39 Seat change 12 11 30 Popular vote 5,316,698 4,802,097 2,269,993 Percentage 11.5% 10.3% 4.9% Swing 0.8 pp 2.3 pp 4.3 pp
Chancellor of Germany before election Angela Merkel CDU/CSU–SPD Chancellor after election Olaf Scholz SPD–FDP–Greens

Parties

Incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her retirement from politics in October 2018, by announcing she will not run for re-election for CDU Leader and Chancellor.

Major

These parties have received at least 4% of the national vote in the last German federal election, and are predicted to win seats in this next election.

• Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU): led by Armin Laschet. The party is liberal conservative and pro-European Union. Together with the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU), a conservative party.
• Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): led by Olaf Scholz. The party supports social democracy and is pro-European Union.
• Alternative for Germany (AfD): led by Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla. The party is nationalistic and is against the European Union.
• Free Democratic Party (FDP): led by Christian Lindner. The party supports classical liberalism and economic liberalism. The FDP is also pro-European Union.
• The Left: led by Janine Wissler and Dietmar Bartsch. The Left is a democratic socialist party.
• Alliance '90/The Greens: led by Annalena Baerbock. The party supports green politics and is pro-European Union.

• Armin Laschet
  (CDU/CSU)
  from North Rhine-Westphalia

• Olaf Scholz
  (SPD)
  from Hamburg

• Alice Weidel
  (AfD)
  from Baden-Württemberg

• Tino Chrupalla
  (AfD)
  from Saxony

• Christian Lindner
  (FDP)
  from North Rhine-Westphalia

• Janine Wissler
  (The Left)
  from Hesse

• Dietmar Bartsch
  (The Left)
  from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

• Annalena Baerbock
  (Green)
  from Brandenburg

Minor

These parties received at least 0.5% of the national vote in the last German federal election.

• Pirate Party Germany: supports preserving civil rights and reforming copyright laws. Also supports greater government transparency and an unconditional basic income.
• Free Voters: not a registered political party. The association attracts many conservative voters in the south.
• Die PARTEI: led by Martin Sonneborn. The party is satirical and populist.
• Human Environment Animal Protection: led by Stefan Bernhard Eck, Barbara Nauheimer and Horst Wester. The party is environmentalist and supports animal rights.

Opinion polls

2021 German Federal Election Media

• 

  Composition of German Bundestag after the 2021 election:*  The Left: 39 seats

• 

  The many postal ballot papers at Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

• 

  Party affiliation of winning candidates by constituency

• 

  ReList seats allocated in each state in the 2021 German federal election.

Other websites

• Comprehensive results of the 2017 federal election (in German)