2021 German federal election

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	61,172,771 0.8%
Turnout	46,298,338 (76.4%) 0.2 pp
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Olaf Scholz Armin Laschet Annalena Baerbock Party SPD CDU/CSU Green 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 11,901,556 11,177,746 6,814,401 Percentage 25.7% 24.1% 14.7% Swing 5.2 pp 8.8 pp 5.8 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Candidate Christian Lindner Alice Weidel & Tino Chrupalla Janine Wissler & Dietmar Bartsch Party FDP AfD Left 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 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 0.7 pp 2.2 pp 4.3 pp
Chancellor of Germany before election Angela Merkel CDU/CSU–SPD Chancellor after election Olaf Scholz SPD–FDP–Greens

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

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

Other websites

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