The Electoral system

Each voter has two votes: a first vote and a second vote. The first vote elects a constituency candidate. This vote is marked on the left half of the ballot paper. From the 2025 Bundestag election onwards, a party candidate will win a constituency seat - also known as a direct seat - if the candidate gets the most first votes in the constituency and the seat is also backed by second votes (seat allocation procedure based on second votes). An independent candidate wins a constituency seat if he or she gets the most votes.

The second vote, which is marked on the right half of the ballot paper, goes to the Land list of a party. The number of second votes determines the number of Bundestag seats a party gets (proportional representation) and is therefore decisive. The decision to introduce the seat allocation procedure based on second votes as of the 2025 Bundestag election has further enhanced the role of the second vote.

Since the 2nd Bundestag election in 1953, voters have had two votes: a first vote to be cast for a constituency candidate and a second vote for a Land list. For historical reasons, the intention was to counteract the fragmentation of parties by not relying on proportional representation only.

The electoral system combines proportional representation with a candidate-centred election. Candidates are elected in the constituencies (first vote) according to the principles of majority voting, and Land lists of parties by proportional representation (second vote).

The principle of proportional representation is decisive for the composition of the German Bundestag under the combined system chosen.

From the 2025 Bundestag election onwards, a party candidate will win a constituency seat - also known as a direct seat - if the candidate gets the most first votes in the constituency and the seat is also backed by second votes (seat allocation procedure based on second votes).

To determine which seats are sufficiently backed by second votes, the procedure is as follows: in each Land, the candidates of a party with the most first votes are ranked in descending order by the proportion of first votes they received. The seats determined for a Land on the basis of second votes are then allotted to the constituency candidates in this order.

The Land lists of parties are what are known as "closed lists", because the order of the candidates is determined by the parties in an elective process and cannot be altered.

No, each person who is eligible to vote can vote once only and must do so personally. It is not permitted for the right to vote to be exercised by another person instead of the person eligible to vote; this is a punishable offence. This applies both to in-person voting at a polling station and voting by postal ballot. While it is possible to receive assistance when voting at the ballot box or by post, this does not remove the obligation for the voter to cast his or her vote personally. In both cases, the vote is always cast on the basis of the personal, declared intent of the (disabled) eligible voter.

See also: Helper

Legal basis: Section 14 (4), Section 36 (2) of the Federal Elections Act (BWG), Sections 56, 66 (1) and (3) of the Federal Electoral Regulations (BWO), Section 107a of the German Criminal Code (StGB) 

The provisional result of the Bundestag election is determined by the electoral bodies immediately after the voting process and communicated (as an early report) to the electoral body at the next highest administrative level as quickly as possible.

First, the votes on the ballot papers are counted in the polling stations and the results for the polling districts are determined. In this process, the electoral boards establish

• the number of persons entitled to vote,
• the number of voters,
• the number of valid and invalid first votes,
• the number of valid and invalid second votes,
• the number of valid first votes cast for each candidate, and
• the number of valid second votes cast for each Land list.

As soon as the election result has been established for a polling district, the electoral officer announces the election result together with the above information and reports it to the municipal authority, which compiles the results of all its polling districts and submits them to the constituency returning officer.

The constituency returning officer determines the provisional election result for the constituency on the basis of the municipal authorities' early reports and communicates it (including the postal ballot results) to the Land returning officer as quickly as possible. The name of the candidate deemed elected according to the provisional result is also indicated.

The Land returning officer reports incoming constituency results to the Federal Returning Officer immediately and on a rolling basis. In addition, the Land returning officer determines the provisional figures for the Land from the early reports of the constituency returning officers and also submits them to the Federal Returning Officer as quickly as possible.

In accordance with the legal provisions applying, the Federal Returning Officer determines the provisional election result for the entire electoral area from the early reports of the Land returning officers.

The member of the electoral board acting as minute-keeper creates an election record of the poll and the process of determining and establishing the election result. All the steps of the counting procedure through to the establishment of the election result are documented in the election record according to a set format (see Annex 29 of the Federal Electoral Regulations). The record must be approved and signed by the members of the electoral board. Then each electoral officer is required to hand over the record and the annexes to the municipal authority. The latter, in turn, submits the election records of its electoral boards as a package to the constituency returning officer as quickly as possible.

The constituency returning officer checks the election records of the electoral boards for completeness and proper form. The results are presented to the constituency electoral committee. The committee then determines the election result for the constituency and establishes

• the number of persons entitled to vote,
• the number of voters,
• the number of valid and invalid first and second votes,
• the number of valid first votes cast for each candidate,
• the number of valid second votes cast for each Land list.

The constituency electoral committee may correct results established by the electoral board, for example by deciding differently as to the validity of individual votes cast. Finally, the committee establishes which candidate has been elected in the constituency and announces these results orally.

Minutes are also kept of the constituency electoral committees' meeting and must be signed by all involved. These minutes are submitted to the Land returning officer and the Federal Returning Officer as quickly as possible together with a table of the election results according to a set format (Annex 30 of the Federal Electoral Regulations).

The Land returning officer examines the election records of the constituency electoral committees. Then the final election results for the various constituencies are compiled and presented to the Land electoral committee. The Land electoral committee determines the Land result on the basis of second votes cast and establishes

• the number of persons entitled to vote,
• the number of voters,
• the number of valid and invalid second votes,
• the number of valid second votes cast for each Land list,
• in cases where Section 6 (1), second sentence, of the Federal Elections Act applies, the number of second votes cast for each Land list which have to be considered when the seats are distributed (adjusted numbers).

Where necessary, the Land electoral committee corrects any incorrect calculations in the results established by the electoral boards or constituency electoral committees. The documents are submitted to the Federal Returning Officer together with the minutes of the meeting in accordance with Annex 33 of the Federal Electoral Regulations.

The Federal Returning Officer reviews the election records of the Land electoral committees, and on this basis determines

• the number of second votes cast for the Land lists of each party,
• the total number of valid second votes cast in the electoral area,
• the votes cast for each party as a percentage of the total number of valid second votes cast in the electoral area,
• the number of constituency seats won by each party in the electoral area,
• the adjusted number of second votes cast for the Land lists and each party,
• the number of successful constituency candidates which is to be deducted from the total number of representatives pursuant to Section 6 (1), third sentence, of the Federal Elections Act,
• the number of seats to be assigned to each Land in stage one of the distribution process on the basis of the latest official population figures.

After the Federal Returning Officer has reported, the Federal Electoral Committee determines the overall result of the Land list election and establishes, for the entire electoral area,

• the number of persons entitled to vote,
• the number of voters,
• the number of valid and invalid second votes,
• the number of valid second votes going to each party,
• the parties which, pursuant to Section 6 (3) of the Federal Elections Act,
  • are considered in the distribution of list seats,
  • are disregarded in the distribution of list seats,
• the adjusted number of second votes going to each party,
• the number of seats going to each party and Land list,
• which Land list candidates have been elected.

The Federal Returning Officer may correct any incorrect calculations in the results established by the Land electoral committees.

As soon as all electoral committees have established their results, the constituency returning officers publicly announce the final result for their constituency, the Land returning officers announce the final result for their Land, and the Federal Returning Officer announces the final result for the entire electoral area.

The procedure for calculating the distribution of seats was last modified by the Act amending the Federal Elections Act and the 25th Act amending the Federal Elections Act of 8 June 2023 (Federal Law Gazette I 2023, no. 147). The calculation uses the Sainte-Laguë/Schepers method.

Bundestag elections are candidate-centred elections and the allocation of seats is based on proportional representation. The system combines two elements: a first vote and a second vote. The first vote elects a constituency candidate. Up until and including the 2021 Bundestag election, the candidate who received the most votes won (relative majority). From the 2025 Bundestag election onwards, these seats must also be backed by second votes. The second vote goes to the Land list of a party. The number of second votes determines the number of Bundestag seats a party gets (proportional representation) and is therefore decisive. The decision to introduce the seat allocation procedure based on second votes as of the 2025 Bundestag election has further enhanced the role of the second vote.

Parties which have won less than 5% of the second votes are not considered in the distribution of seats (restrictive clause). Up until and including the 2021 Bundestag election, parties were considered in the allocation of seats if they had won at least three constituency seats (minimum representation clause). Following its amendment in 2023, the Federal Elections Act no longer contained a provision for the minimum representation clause.

In its judgment of 30 July 2024, however, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the 5% restrictive clause in Section 4 (2), second sentence, number 2 of the Federal Elections Act contravenes Article 21 (1) and Article 38 (1), first sentence, of the Basic Law. Until amendments are enacted, the restrictive clause will continue to apply, subject to the condition that political parties that receive less than 5% of the second votes will be excluded from the distribution of seats only if their candidates have secured the most first votes in fewer than three constituencies.

First of all, the seats are allocated to the parties (upper level distribution). This means that the seats are distributed according to the proportions of second votes cast for the Land lists of the parties in the electoral area.

This is then followed by distribution at the lower level. The seats determined for each party in the upper level distribution process are allocated to their Land lists in proportion to the number of second votes they received.

In each Land, the party candidates who won the most first votes in the constituencies are ranked by descending proportion of first votes in order to identify the constituency candidates who will be awarded a seat under the seat allocation procedure based on second votes. The proportion of first votes is calculated by dividing the number of first votes for the candidate by the total number of valid first votes cast in the particular constituency. The seats resulting from the lower level distribution are then allocated to the constituency candidates based on the order described above.

Any seats remaining after the allocation procedure based on second votes are distributed to the Land lists according to the order of the Land lists.

See also: Sample calculation: Distribution of seats according to the Federal Elections Act, last amended by Article 2 of the Act of 8 June 2023, based on the result of the 2021 Bundestag election, taking into account the condition of the Federal Constitutional Court