2021 German federal election

2021 German federal election

← 2017 26 September 2021 (2021-09-26)[a] 2025 →

All 735 seats in the Bundestag, including 137 overhang and leveling seats
368 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered61,172,771
Turnout76.4% (46,298,338) Increase 0.2pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Olaf Scholz 2021 cropped.jpg
Armin Laschet 2021 (cropped).jpg
Annalena Baerbock (2021) cropped.jpg
Candidate Olaf Scholz Armin Laschet Annalena Baerbock[b]
Party SPD CDU/CSU Greens
Last election 20.5%, 153 seats 32.9%, 246 seats 8.9%, 67 seats
Seats won 206 197 118
Seat change Increase 53 Decrease 49 Increase 51
Popular vote 11,901,556 11,177,746 6,814,401
Percentage 25.7% 24.1% 14.7%[c]
Swing Increase 5.2pp Decrease 8.8pp Increase 5.8pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
2020-02-14 Christian Lindner (Bundestagsprojekt 2020) by Sandro Halank–2.jpg
AfD leadership 2021.jpg
Die Linke Leadership 2021.jpg
Candidate Christian Lindner Alice Weidel
Tino Chrupalla
Janine Wissler
Dietmar Bartsch
Party FDP AfD Left
Last election 10.7%, 80 seats 12.6%, 94 seats 9.2%, 69 seats
Seats won 91 83 39
Seat change Increase 11 Decrease 11 Decrease 30
Popular vote 5,291,010 4,809,228 2,255,860
Percentage 11.4% 10.4% 4.9%
Swing Increase 0.7pp Decrease 2.2pp Decrease 4.3pp

The left side shows constituency winners of the election by their party colours. The right side shows party list winners of the election for the additional members by their party colours.

Government before election

Fourth Merkel cabinet
CDU/CSUSPD

Government after election

Scholz cabinet
SPDGreensFDP

Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, chose not to run again, marking the first time that an incumbent Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany did not seek re-election.

With 25.7% of total votes, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) recorded their best result since 2005, and emerged as the largest party for the first time since 2002. The ruling CDU/CSU, which had led a grand coalition with the SPD since 2013, recorded their worst ever result with 24.1%, a significant decline from 32.9% in 2017. Alliance 90/The Greens achieved their best result in history at 14.7%, while the Free Democratic Party (FDP) made small gains and finished on 11.4%. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) fell from third to fifth place with 10.4%, a decline of 2.3 percentage points. The Left suffered their worst showing since their official formation in 2007, failing to cross the 5% electoral threshold by just over one-tenth of a percentage point. The party was nonetheless entitled to full proportional representation, as it won three direct constituencies.

With a fifth grand coalition being dismissed by both the CDU/CSU and the SPD, the FDP and the Greens were considered kingmakers. On 23 November, following complex coalition talks, the SPD, FDP and Greens formalized an agreement to form a traffic light coalition, which was approved by all three parties. Olaf Scholz and his cabinet were elected by the Bundestag on 8 December.

Irregularities in Berlin led to repeat elections in February 2023 (state) and February 2024 (federal). The result of the federal repeat election meant that the FDP lost a seat in the Bundestag, while 3 other seats were moved from Berlin to different states.


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  1. ^ Anderson, Emma (5 August 2021). "German Greens must sit out vote in one state during national election". Politico. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.