PARADIGM SHIFT IN GERMAN POLITICS

Following a government crisis, Olaf Scholz dismissed FDP leader Christian Lindner from the incumbent government on 6 November 2024, triggering the collapse of the traffic light coalition and leaving the government without a majority.

- TDG NETWORK

Federal elections were held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag. It was the fourth snap election in the history of the post-war Federal Republic of Germany after those in 1972, 1983, and 2005.

The election had been prospectively scheduled for 28 September 2025 but was brought forward due to the collapse of the governing coalition during the 2024 German government crisis.

The conservative CDU/CSU alliance won a plurality, albeit with its second-worst result. The far-right AfD came out in second place and achieved a historically high result. The centre-left SPD fell to third place and below 20% for the first time since 1933, reaching its worst result in vote share terms since the 1887 federal election held in the German Empire. This made it the first post-World War II election in which a party other than the CDU/CSU or the SPD came in second place. The Greens declined in vote share while the left-wing party Die Linke reached fifth place. Neither the classical liberal FDP nor the left-wing BSW exceeded the 5% threshold for parliamentary representation. Voter turnout was 82.5%, the highest since German reunification.

The Basic Law and the Federal Election Act provide that federal elections must be held on a Sunday or 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. Therefore, the next regular election was to be held on a Sunday between 31 August 2025 and 26 October 2025. In August 2024, the Federal Cabinet initially recommended 28 September 2025 as the election date, which was approved by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

SNAP ELECTION