2021 German federal election

2021 German federal election

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All 735 seats in the Bundestag, including 137 overhang and leveling seats 368 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	61,172,771 0.8%
Turnout	46,298,338 (76.4%) 0.2pp
First party Second party Third party   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 53 49 51 Popular vote 11,901,556 11,177,746 6,814,401 Percentage 25.7% 24.1% 14.7%[c] Swing 5.2pp 8.8pp 5.8pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   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 11 11 30 Popular vote 5,291,010 4,809,228 2,255,860 Percentage 11.4% 10.4% 4.9% Swing 0.7pp 2.2pp 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/CSU–SPD Government after election Scholz cabinet SPD–Greens–FDP

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Candidates Opinion polling Chancellor polling Constituency projections Results Elected MPs MPs who lost their seat Government formation
Concurrent state elections
Berlin Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
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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 leading 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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