First Vote and Second Vote in Germany: 2025 Results Guide
In Germany’s 2025 Bundestag election, the first vote ranked local constituency candidates while the second vote determined each party’s proportional seat entitlement and whether party constituency wins were backed.
Timeline
- 2024-07-30: The Federal Constitutional Court ruled on parts of the reformed electoral law, preserving an exception linked to constituency wins.
- 2025-02-23: Germany held the election for the 21st Bundestag under the reformed seat-allocation system.
- 2025-03-14: The Federal Electoral Committee established the final result.
German voters received two votes in the February 23, 2025 Bundestag election, but the votes served different purposes. The first vote selected a candidate in one of 299 constituencies. The second vote went to a party’s Land list and was decisive for the party’s proportional share of Bundestag seats. The labels do not mean a first and second preference, and the voter did not have to give both votes to the same party. [1][2]
The second vote determined how the Bundestag’s fixed 630 seats were distributed among qualifying parties and across the Länder using proportional calculations. A party generally needed at least 5 percent of valid second votes nationwide to participate. The South Schleswig Voters’ Association, representing a national minority, was exempt. Following a 2024 Constitutional Court ruling, a party below 5 percent could also qualify through the rule linked to winning at least three constituencies. [1][3][4]
The first vote still mattered because it ranked constituency candidates. The candidate with the most first votes could receive a direct seat, but 2025 introduced an important condition: a party candidate’s constituency win also had to be supported by enough second-vote seats allocated to that party in the Land. The party’s constituency winners were ranked by their first-vote percentages, and seats were awarded down that ranking until the Land entitlement was filled. Independent winners were treated separately. [1][4]
That rule replaced the older assumption that every constituency plurality automatically produced a Bundestag seat. It also helped keep the chamber at 630 members instead of expanding through overhang and compensatory seats. A voter could therefore see a candidate finish first locally yet not enter the Bundestag if the candidate’s party lacked sufficient second-vote backing in that Land. For reading 2025 results, local first-vote victories and actual constituency seats are related but not identical tables. [1][2][4]
The final nationwide second-vote shares were led by CDU with 22.6 percent, followed by AfD with 20.8 percent and SPD with 16.4 percent. The Greens received 11.6 percent, The Left 8.8 percent and CSU 6.0 percent. BSW finished just below the threshold at 4.981 percent and FDP received 4.3 percent. Voter turnout was 82.5 percent, up from 76.4 percent in 2021. [2][3]
The final 630-seat distribution gave CDU 164 seats, AfD 152, SPD 120, the Greens 85, The Left 64, CSU 44 and SSW one. CDU and CSU are separate parties in the official table: CDU competes outside Bavaria and CSU in Bavaria. The seat totals came from the second-vote allocation and the rules for qualifying parties; the first-vote table shows constituency support but cannot by itself reproduce the chamber’s composition. [2][3]
To read an official result page, use the first-vote column to answer who led the candidate race in a constituency and the second-vote column to answer how voters supported party lists. Then consult the distribution-of-seats and elected-candidate tables to see who actually entered the Bundestag under the backing rule. This sequence avoids treating split-ticket voting as an error or interpreting the national first-vote totals as the basis for proportional seats. [1][2][5]
Sources
- Federal Returning Officer: The Electoral System for the 2025 Bundestag Election
- Federal Returning Officer: 2025 Bundestag Election Results for Germany
- Federal Returning Officer: Final Result of the 2025 Bundestag Election
- Federal Elections Act in English
- Federal Returning Officer: Results and Seat Distribution