How the Election Works

In Bundestag, or federal parliament, elections in Germany, voters cast two votes. The “first vote” is to elect a “direct” representative for their local constituency, similar to a British election where the candidate with the most votes wins the seat.

The “second vote” is for a party list, as practiced in many European countries. A unique aspect of the German system is that the overall composition of the Bundestag is designed to be proportional to the second vote.

Two final details impact the allocation of seats. The first is that a party must cross a 5% threshold in the second vote to secure party list seats. Therefore, in reality, the seats are allocated proportionally to parties that surpass the threshold, based on their share of “successful” second votes. The other detail is that a party winning three or more seats in the first vote, or representing a recognized minority ethnic group, is exempt from meeting the 5% threshold.

After the calculations are completed, parties typically engage in several weeks of coalition negotiations. It is only after these negotiations are finalized that the Bundestag votes to elect the Chancellor.