German election 2025 live results: By the numbers

Around 59 million people in Germany are currently eligible to cast ballots in snap elections to choose the leader of the eurozone’s largest economy over the next four years.

Polls opened at 8am (07: 00 GMT) and closed at 6pm (17: 00 GMT).

Here are the latest results from the federal returning officer, who oversees the elections:

According to the election authority in Germany, 52% of eligible voters had cast ballots four hours before the polling stations were closed.

When will we know the final results?

The first local constituencies started reporting results at about 9: 00pm (20: 00 GMT).

The final official results are anticipated early on Monday, and the overall picture should be clear as soon as possible.

Who are the major candidates and parties?

This year, 29 political parties are participating in the elections, a decrease from the 47 that contested in 2021.

The main parties are:

CDU/CSU – The Christian Democratic Union is led by Friedrich Merz, who is also the bloc’s chancellor candidate. The Christian Social Union, the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, is led by Markus Soder.
1. Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla co-lead AfD – The Alternative for Germany, with Weidel serving as the AfD‘s candidate for chancellor.
2. Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil co-lead the Social Democratic Party. The incumbent chancellor of the party is incumbent incumbent Alf Scholz.
3. Robert Habeck is the current vice chancellor and Franziska Brantner and Felix Banaszak co-chairman of Alliance 90/The Greens.
4. Heidi Reichinnek and Jan van Aken serve as the candidates for the chancellorship of The Left.
5. BSW – The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance is led by Sahra Wagenknecht, who is also the party’s chancellor candidate.
6. FDP – The Free Democratic Party is led by Christian Lindner, who also serves as the party’s lead candidate.

What do the latest polls indicate?

With a 30% support, the conservative CDU is in the lead. The far-right AfD is predicted to win about 20 percent of the votes while the SPD, which led the previous coalition government, sits in third place with 15 percent support.

How does voting work?

German citizens will cast two ballots, one for a local member of parliament and the other for a party. To be eligible for the Bundestag, the bicameral parliament’s electoral body, a party must receive at least 5% of the national vote.

Because it determines a party’s strength within a coalition government it might be a part of, the second vote is regarded as the most significant and is most widely reported on election night.

The new Bundestag will vote on a candidate for chancellor, regardless of which party has the most seats. The candidate must win the presidency’s absolute majority in order to be sworn in.

Germany’s current distribution of seats

The Bundestag has a base of 598 seats, but it can expand, reaching 733 seats in 2021, the largest in its history. A 2023 reform now limits it to 630 seats.

What are the key issues?

A sluggish economy, immigration and the Ukraine war have been the top issues in the campaign.

Many voters, according to surveys, want to pay less in taxes, but it will be difficult to do so. Germany’s key industries are struggling to stay competitive despite the country’s two-year recession.

Unemployment is at more than 6 percent, and the debt brake, which limits government borrowing, is also causing problems.

Who could be Germany’s next chancellor?

No one party has ever commanded an absolute majority, so it’s likely that a coalition government will be formed. Only the CDU/CSU won West Germany’s elections in 1957 to ensure a majority in a single parliamentary group.

The new Bundestag will decide who will be elected as chancellor based on the party with the most popular votes cast. To be sworn in as leader, the candidate must have an overwhelming majority.

The top four parties’ top four candidates for chancellors are listed below:

Merz, 69, is the frontrunner, according to the polls. After Angela Merkel’s resignation in 2021, he assumed the position of CDU leader.
• Weidel, 46, has co-led the anti-immigration AfD since 2017.
• Scholz, 66, from the SPD has been chancellor since December 2021.
• Habeck, 55, is the candidate representing the Greens. He is currently the economy and climate minister as well as the vice chancellor.