2025 German federal election

A federal election was held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag, down from 736 in 2021 due to reforms in seat distribution. The 2025 election took place seven months ahead of schedule due to the 2024 collapse of the Scholz governing coalition. Following the loss of his majority, the chancellor called and intentionally lost a motion of confidence, which enabled the approval of a new election by the president. The 2025 election was the fourth snap election in post-war German history.

Three opposition parties increased their share of votes in the election, compared with the previous federal election in 2021. The conservative CDU/CSU alliance became the largest group in the Bundestag, with 28.5% of votes. Although this result was well below the 41.5% vote Angela Merkel had achieved in 2013 and its second to worst since 1949, it positioned them to lead the new government. The far-right AfD with 20.8% doubled its share and achieved its best result in nation-wide German elections, moving into second place, without any other party willing to work with them. The socialist Left party, polling well under 5% until January 2025, massively improved within a few weeks to 9%. On the other hand, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a populist splinter from the Left, fell in the polls, and at 4.98% narrowly failed to enter the Bundestag.

The three parties of the formerly governing "Traffic light coalition" all lost support. The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) lost over nine percentage points and dropped to third rank with just 16.4%, their worst result since 1887. Their remaining junior partner, The Greens, also declined from 15% to 12%, still their second best ever result. The Free Democratic Party (FDP), whose departure from the government precipitated the election, recorded their worst historical result with 4.3%, and lost all representation in the Bundestag, as had previously happened in 2013. In total, 13.9% of voters are not represented in the Bundestag.

The South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW), which as a party representing the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein is exempt from the 5% threshold, retained their single seat with 76,138 total votes (0.15%). Voter turnout was 82.5%, a six percentage point increase from 2021, and the highest since German reunification.

CDU/CSU and SPD formerly had represented a two-party system with a combined approval of over 90% in the 1970s, and as late as 2017 had formed a grand coalition with 53% voter share. In 2025, they only received a combined 44.9% of the votes, but with only 86.1% of the voters being represented with seats, they still won a majority of 328 of 630 seats. After the election, the outgoing parliament continued sessions, and even changed the constitution, as the required majorities for that were not possible in the new 21st Bundestag which was assembled only on the last permitted date, on 25 March.

On 9 April 2025, the CDU/CSU and SPD secured a ruling coalition agreement.

The German parliament elected Friedrich Merz as chancellor on 6 May 2025, with a majority of 325 out of 630. Earlier the same day, Merz had failed to be confirmed chancellor, with only 310 votes in the first round of voting, thus requiring a second round—a situation unprecedented in Germany's postwar history.