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Determining the provisional result of the Bundestag election

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 that 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 information above, and reports it to the municipal authority. The municipal authority 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 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.

Last update: 16 October 2026