- Elections in Germany
The following information deals with elections in Germany, including elections to the
Federal Diet (the lower house of the federal parliament), theLandtag s of the various states, and local elections.German elections since 1949
Federal Republic of Germany
Election system
Germany elects on federal level a
legislature . The parliament has two chambers. The Federal Diet ("Bundestag") nominally has 598 members, elected for a four year term, 299 members elected in single-seat constituencies according to first-past-the-post, while a further 299 members are allocated from statewide party lists to achieve a proportional distribution in the legislature, conducted according to a system ofproportional representation called theadditional member system . Voters vote once for a constituency representative, and a second time for a party, and the lists are used to make the party balances match the distribution of second votes. In the current parliament there are 16overhang seat s, giving a total of 614. This is caused by larger parties winning additional single-member districts above the totals determined by their proportional party vote.Germany has a
multi-party system, with two strong parties and some other third parties that are electorally successful.Elections are conducted every 4 years, with the exact date of the election chosen by the outgoing government. The Bundestag can be dismissed and a new election called before the four year period has ended, but this usually only occurs in the case of a government losing its majority.
German nationals over the age of 18 are eligible to vote, including most Germans resident outside Germany, and eligibility for candidacy is essentially the same as eligibility to vote.
The Federal Council ("Bundesrat") has 69 members representing the governments of the states.
Latest election results
List of Federal election results
* 16th
German federal election, 2005
* 15thGerman federal election, 2002
* 14thGerman federal election, 1998
* 13thGerman federal election, 1994
* 12thGerman federal election, 1990 (1st of the re-united Germany)
* 11thGerman federal election, 1987
* 10thGerman federal election, 1983
* 9thGerman federal election, 1980
* 8thGerman federal election, 1976
* 7thGerman federal election, 1972
* 6thGerman federal election, 1969
* 5thGerman federal election, 1965
* 4thGerman federal election, 1961
* 3rdGerman federal election, 1957
* 2ndGerman federal election, 1953
* 1stGerman federal election, 1949 tate elections in the Federal Republic of Germany
State elections are conducted under various rules set by the Länder. In general they are conducted according to some form of party list proportional repesentation, either the same as the federal system or some simplified version. The election period is generally four to five years, and the dates of elections vary from state to state.
Baden-Württemberg state election results
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Baden-Württemberg state election, 2006
*Baden-Württemberg state election, 2001 Bavaria state election results
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Bavaria state election, 2008
*Bavaria state election, 2003
*Bavaria state election, 1998 Berlin state election results
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Berlin state election, 2006
*Berlin state election, 2001 Brandenburg state election results
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Brandenburg state election, 2004
*Brandenburg state election, 1999 Bremen state election results
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Bremen state election, 2007
*Bremen state election, 2003 Hamburg state election results
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Hamburg state election, 2008
*Hamburg state election, 2004
*Hamburg state election, 2001 Hesse state election results
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Hesse state election, 2008
*Hesse state election, 2003
*Hesse state election, 1999 Lower Saxony state election results
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Lower Saxony state election, 2008
*Lower Saxony state election, 2003
*Lower Saxony state election, 1998 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election results
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Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election, 2006
*Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election, 2002 North Rhine-Westphalia state election results
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North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2005
*North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2000 Rhineland-Palatinate state election results
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Rhineland-Palatinate state election, 2006
*Rhineland-Palatinate state election, 2001 aarland state election results
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Saarland state election, 2004
*Saarland state election, 1999 axony state election results
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Saxony state election, 2004
*Saxony state election, 1999 axony-Anhalt state election results
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Saxony-Anhalt state election, 2006
*Saxony-Anhalt state election, 2002 chleswig-Holstein state election results
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Schleswig-Holstein state election, 2005
*Schleswig-Holstein state election, 2000 Thuringia state election results
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Thuringia state election, 2004 German Democratic Republic
"See:
Politics of East Germany "In the
German Democratic Republic , elections between multiple parties to the "Volkskammer " took place, but were effectively controlled by the SED/state hierarchy, even if multiple parties existed pro forma. On18 March 1990 the first and only free elections in the history of the GDR were held, producing a government whose major mandate was to negotiate an end to itself and its state.German elections 1871 to 1945
From the unification of Germany under Emperor Wilhelm I in
1871 to the Nazi accession to power and the abolishment of elections following the Enabling Act of1933 , elections were held to the German Reichstag or "Imperial Assembly", which supplanted its namesake, the Reichstag of theNorddeutscher Bund . The Reichstag could be dissolved by the Kaiser, and after the abdication of Wilhelm II in 1918 by theReichspräsident . With theWeimar constitution of1919 , the voting system changed from single-member constituencies to proportional representation. Election age was reduced to 20 years.Women's suffrage had already been established by a new electoral law in1918 , following the November revolution of that year.Elections in Nazi Germany
"See:
Nazi Germany "The 9th German election in 1933 was the last free election. In the Third Reich, several elections were conducted, leading to unanimous support of the NSDAP and their politicians, because other parties were dissolved or banned.
Weimar Republic elections
"See:
Weimar Republic "* 9th
German election, 1933 (Weimar Republic)
* 8thGerman election, November 1932 (Weimar Republic)
* 7thGerman election, July 1932 (Weimar Republic)
* 6thGerman election, 1930 (Weimar Republic)
* 5thGerman election, 1928 (Weimar Republic)
* 4thGerman election, December 1924 (Weimar Republic)
* 3rdGerman election, May 1924 (Weimar Republic)
* 2ndGerman election, 1920 (Weimar Republic)
* 1stGerman election, 1919 (Weimar Republic)Imperial elections
"See:
German Empire "* 13th
German election, 1912
* 12thGerman election, 1907
* 11thGerman election, 1903
* 10thGerman election, 1898
* 9thGerman election, 1893
* 8thGerman election, 1890
* 7thGerman election, 1887
* 6thGerman election, 1884
* 5thGerman election, 1881
* 4thGerman election, 1878
* 3rdGerman election, 1877
* 2ndGerman election, 1874
* 1stGerman election, 1871 ee also
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Electoral calendar
*Electoral system Further reading
* cite journal
quotes =
last = Kitschelt
first = Herbert
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date =
year = 2003
month = October
title = Political-economic context and partisan strategies in the German federal elections, 1990-2002
journal =West European Politics
volume = 26
issue = 4
pages = 125–152
doi = 10.1080/01402380312331280718
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quotes =
last = Manow
first = Philip
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date =
year = 2007
month = January
title = Electoral rules and legislative turnover: Evidence from Germany's mixed electoral system
journal =West European Politics
volume = 30
issue = 1
pages = 195–207
doi = 10.1080/01402380601019852
id =
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quote =vodafonelive
The German constitutional court decided that a certain practice of calculating the relative propartion that is decided by the proportional 2nd vote is inaccurate. With the first vote u pick your candidate in Germany. With the second vote you depict the proportion your party gets in parliament. The recent verdict suggests more direct democracy. It means that it is not relevant anymore if a party has a certain number of candidates depicted by the first vote and gets the proportion of seats in parliament "on top" by the 2nd vote. It meant before that the absolute number of seats in parliament is changed.This practice will be reduced in the future. The second vote will be more important thus.
External links
* [http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/g/germany/ Adam Carr's Election Archive]
* [http://www.parties-and-elections.de/germany.html Parties and elections]
* [http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/index.htm Latest polling results for state and federal elections (in German)]
* [http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/wahlen/ Official Site of "Bundeswahlleiter"]
* [http://www.parteien-geschichte.de/ Collection of German Election Posters of Weimar Republic and Federal Republic]
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