| Election Name: | Next German federal election |
| Country: | Germany |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | yes |
| Previous Election: | 2021 German federal election |
| Previous Year: | 2021 |
| Election Date: | (expected) |
| Outgoing Members: | List of members of the 20th Bundestag |
| Seats For Election: | All 630 seats in the Bundestag |
| Majority Seats: | 316 |
| Opinion Polls: | Opinion polling for the next German federal election |
| Leader1: | Olaf Scholz |
| Party1: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election1: | 25.7%, 206 seats |
| Leader2: | Friedrich Merz |
| Party2: | CDU/CSU |
| Last Election2: | 24.1%, 197 seats |
| Leader3: | Ricarda Lang & Omid Nouripour |
| Party3: | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Last Election3: | 14.8%, 118 seats |
| Leader4: | Christian Lindner |
| Party4: | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Last Election4: | 11.4%, 91 seats |
| Leader5: | Alice Weidel &<br>Tino Chrupalla |
| Party5: | Alternative for Germany |
| Last Election5: | 10.3%, 83 seats |
| Leader6: | Janine Wissler &<br>Martin Schirdewan |
| Party6: | The Left (Germany) |
| Last Election6: | 4.9%, 39 seats |
| Government | |
| Before Election: | Scholz cabinet |
| Before Party: | SPD–Green–FDP |
| Posttitle: | Government after election |
Federal elections in Germany is expected to be held on 28 September 2025 to elect the members of the 21st Bundestag.
The Federal Cabinet has recommended 28 September as the date of the election. The President, who determines the date of the election, usually follows government recommendations.[1]
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.[2] Therefore, the next election has to take place on one of the following possible dates:
The exact date will be determined by the president of Germany in due course.[3] Federal elections can be held earlier if the president of Germany dissolves the Bundestag and schedules a snap election. They may only do so under two possible scenarios described by 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.[4] [5] Under both scenarios, a snap election is not possible during a state of defence. Federal elections can also be held later, if a state of defence is declared. If a state of defence prohibits a scheduled federal election and prolongs a legislative period, new elections have to take place no later than six months after the end of the state of defence.
After the 2021 German federal election produced a Bundestag with 736 members – which made it the largest freely elected parliament in the world – renewed debate began over the system of awarding overhang and leveling seats in place since the 2013 election. The Scholz cabinet passed a reform law in March 2023 to fix the size of future Bundestags at 630 members. This is achieved by eliminating all overhang and leveling seats, as well as the constituency seat rule (Grundmandatsklausel) which awards full proportional representation to parties winning at least three constituency seats, even if they do not meet the five-percent threshold. Under the new legislation, a party's total number of seats will be determined solely by its share of party-list votes (Zweitstimmen). If a party wins more constituency seats in a state than it is proportionally entitled to in that state, it will only be awarded the amount of constituency seats it is proportionally entitled to; a number of its constituency winners would be excluded from the Bundestag, in order of those that received the smallest vote shares. Parties representing minority groups are still exempt from the five-percent threshold.
The law is subject to constitutional challenges; the CSU and The Left, both of whom benefitted from the previous system at the 2021 election, appealed to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to refuse to sign it, though he did so after personally determining he believed it was constitutional.[6] [7] Immediately after the law was promulgated in the Federal Law Journal on 13 June, both party organizations, as well as the government of Bavaria controlled by the CSU, filed formal complaints to the Federal Constitutional Court.[8] [9] Hearings were held on 23 and 24 April 2024. On 30 July 2024, the court upheld the principle of second vote coverage, but ruled that the 5% threshold without exceptions was unconstitutional.[10] In order to ensure stability in the electoral regulation, the court reintroduced the constituency seat rule as an interim measure for the 2025 election.
On 14 March 2024 a law entered into force changing the boundaries of the Bundestag constituencies. As a result of the 2023 electoral reform, the number of constituencies would remain at 299, but with Bavaria gaining one constituency (Memmingen – Unterallgäu), while Saxony-Anhalt consequently lost one constituency (Anhalt). Lübbenau was also moved from Dahme-Spreewald – Teltow-Fläming III to Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz in order to comply with population requirements. Minor adjustments were made to two Thuringian constituencies to align with new municipal boundaries, while 14 further constituencies were redescribed or renamed, but without changing their boundaries.[11]
See also: List of political parties in Germany. The table below lists the parties represented in the 20th Bundestag.
| Parties | Leader(s) | Leading candidate(s) | Ideology | Seats | Status | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last election | Before election | ||||||||
| Social Democratic Party of Germany | Saskia Esken Lars Klingbeil | Olaf Scholz | |||||||
| Christian Democratic Union of Germany | — | Christian democracy | rowspan="2" | ||||||
| Christian Social Union in Bavaria | Markus Söder | ||||||||
| Alliance 90/The Greens | Ricarda Lang Omid Nouripour | — | Green politics | rowspan="2" | |||||
| Free Democratic Party | Christian Lindner | — | Liberalism | ||||||
| Alternative for Germany | Alice Weidel Tino Chrupalla | — | Right-wing populism | rowspan="6" | |||||
| The Left | Janine Wissler Martin Schirdewan | — | |||||||
| Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance | Sahra Wagenknecht Amira Mohamed Ali | — | Socialism Social conservatism | ||||||
| Ungrouped | SSW | — | Minority rights | ||||||
| AfD | Matthias Helferich | — | — | ||||||
| Independent | — | — | — | ||||||
See main article: Opinion polling for the next German federal election.