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Constituency seat

Up until and including the 2021 Bundestag election, a constituency seat was an electoral mandate to represent the constituency's voters in the German Bundestag that went to the constituency candidate who won the most first votes cast in a constituency. Successful constituency candidates were therefore commonly referred to as candidates for direct election. 

Constituency seats, or direct seats, no longer exist following the amendment of the Federal Elections Act in 2023. A constituency candidate of a party is now elected as the constituency representative in the Bundestag if he or she wins the most first votes and is awarded a seat in the seat allocation procedure based on second votes. If the first votes in the constituency are tied, the lot drawn by the constituency returning officer is decisive. If there is a tie in the allocation of seats based on second votes, the Federal Returning Officer shall draw the deciding lot.

Last update: 21 January 2025