German election, 2013

German federal election, 2013

← 2009 22 September 2013 2017 →
All 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 33 overhang seats 316 seats needed for a majority
Registered	61,946,900 0.4%
Turnout	44,309,925 (71.5%) 0.7 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Angela Merkel Peer Steinbrück Gregor Gysi Party CDU/CSU SPD Left Leader since 10 April 2000 - - Leader's seat Vorpommern-Rügen-Greifswald North Rhine-Westphalia list Berlin Treptow–Köpenick Last election 239 seats, 33.8% 146 seats, 23.0% 76 seats, 11.9% Seats won 311 193 64 Seat change 72 47 12 Popular vote 18,165,446 11,252,215 3,755,699 Percentage 41.5% 25.7% 8.6% Swing 7.8 % 2.7 % 3.3 %   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jürgen Trittin & Katrin Göring-Eckardt Rainer Brüderle Bernd Lucke Party Green FDP AfD Leader since - - 14 April 2013 Leader's seat Lower Saxony list & Thuringia list - - Last election 68 seats, 10.7% 93 seats, 14.6% did not contest Seats before 0 Seats won 63 0 0 Seat change 5 93 0 Popular vote 3,694,057 2,083,533 2,056,985 Percentage 8.4% 4.8% 4.7% Swing 2.3 % 9.8 % 4.7 pp
The left side shows constituency winners of the election by their party colours. The right side shows Party list winners of the election for the additional members by their party colours.
Chancellor before election Angela Merkel CDU/CSU Elected Chancellor Angela Merkel CDU/CSU

Angela Merkel
CDU/CSU

Angela Merkel
CDU/CSU

The 2013 German federal election was held on Sunday, 22 September, to elect the members of the 18th Bundestag of Germany. At stake were all 598 seats to the Bundestag, plus 33 overhang seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel won their best result since 1990, with nearly 42% of the vote and nearly 50% of the seats (five short for an overall majority). However, their coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP), failed to meet the 5% vote threshold in what was their worst showing ever in a federal election, thus denying them seats in the Bundestag for the first time in their history.

Merkel's party reached a coalition agreement with the then-main opposition party, the Social Democrats, (SPD) to form a grand coalition; the third in the country's history since World War II. The SPD leadership conducted a ratification vote by their broader membership before the agreement was made final.

In the last federal election in 2009, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU); its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU); and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) won the election with Angela Merkel as Chancellor and Guido Westerwelle as Vice-Chancellor.