German federal election, 2013

German federal election, 2013

22 September 2013

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 & Sahra Wagenknecht Party CDU/CSU SPD Left Leader since 10 April 2000 28 September 2012 21 January 2013[1] Leader's seat Vorpommern-Greifswald I North Rhine-Westphalia Berlin Treptow - Köpenick North  Rhine - Westphalia 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 pp 2.7 pp 3.3 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Jürgen Trittin & Katrin Göring-Eckardt Rainer Brüderle[2] Party Green FDP Leader since 10 November 2012 21 January 2013 Leader's seat Lower Saxony & Thuringia Rhineland-Palatinate Last election 68 seats, 10.7% 93 seats, 14.6% Seats won 63 0 Seat change 5 93 Popular vote 3,694,057 2,083,533 Percentage 8.4% 4.8% Swing 2.3 pp 9.8 pp

Party list election results by state: blue denotes states where CDU/CSU had the plurality of votes, and pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes

Chancellor before election Angela Merkel CDU/CSU Elected Chancellor 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.^[3] 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.

Background

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.^[4]

Date

The date of the German federal election is governed by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany's constitution) and the Federal Election Law (Bundeswahlgesetz).

Article 39 of the Basic Law states that the Bundestag shall be elected between 46 and 48 months after the beginning of the legislative period.^[5] As the 17th Bundestag convened on 27 October 2009, the election was scheduled between 27 August and 27 October 2013.^[6] To avoid school holidays, a date in late September is usually chosen; this made 15 or 22 September 2013 the most likely dates.^[7] Indeed, the Federal President ordered 22 September 2013 to be the election day upon the recommendation of the federal government.^[8]

Polling stations were open from 8:00 to 18:00.^[3]

Electoral system

According to Article 18 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, everyone over the age of eighteen is entitled to vote. The Bundestag is elected using mixed-member proportional representation and first-past-the post method. Voters have two votes: with their first they elect a member of Bundestag for their constituency, with the second they vote for a party. Subject to a party obtaining a minimum threshold vote, the overall seat assignment in the Bundestag is proportionally distributed according to the second (party) votes. A party who wins more districts in a given state than it is entitled to according to the number of party votes it received in that state keeps these "overhang" seats. A party must either win 5 percent of the vote or at least three constituency seats in order to qualify for MMP.

The other half of the Bundestag, besides the MMP section, is elected directly through a first-pass-the post electoral system. Some Germans have an issue with this system because it means that only the members that are elected in the direct method are actually held accountable to their electorate.^[9] The members that are elected through the MMP section are representatives of the party, not the electorate.^[9]

In 2008, some modifications to the electoral system were required under an order of the Federal Constitutional Court. The court had found a provision in the Federal Election Law by which it was possible for a party to experience a negative vote weight, thus losing seats due to more votes, violated the constitutional guarantee of the electoral system being equal and direct.^[10]

The court allowed three years for these changes, so the 2009 federal election was not affected. The changes were due by 30 June 2011, but appropriate legislation was not completed by that deadline. A new electoral law was enacted in late 2011, but declared unconstitutional once again by the Federal Constitutional Court upon lawsuits from the opposition parties and a group of some 4,000 private citizens.^[11]

Finally, four of the five factions in the Bundestag agreed on an electoral reform whereby the number of seats in the Bundestag will be increased as much as necessary to ensure that any overhang seats are compensated through apportioned leveling seats, to ensure full proportionality according to the political party's share of party votes at the national level.^[12] The Bundestag approved and enacted the new electoral reform in February 2013.^[13]

Chancellor-candidates

Although the "chancellor-candidates" (Kanzlerkandidaten) play a very important role in election campaigns, their "office" is not regulated in any law. So it is up to each party to determine how (and if at all) to name a "chancellor-candidate".

The SPD names a chancellor-candidate while the CDU and the CSU name a common one. The smaller Bundestag parties (FDP, Left and Greens) usually^[14] do not name a chancellor-candidate as it is very improbable for such a candidate to actually be elected chancellor. They instead name one or two persons (Spitzenkandidaten) who are to become the faces of that party's campaign. Fringe parties sometimes name a chancellor-candidate^[15] although there is nearly no chance for them to win seats in the Bundestag (especially due to the required minimum quota of votes required to be granted any seats) much less have their candidate become chancellor.

While a sitting chancellor is usually named chancellor-candidate for his or her own party, the main opposition party's process to determine their chancellor-candidate differs. Most times, such a person is determined in an inner party circle and then anointed in a party convention.

As the CDU/CSU is the main government party, CDU chairwoman (and incumbent chancellor) Angela Merkel was not challenged as chancellor-candidate. In the SPD, the situation was a bit less clear: There were four candidates in the discussion. While Sigmar Gabriel, the party chairman, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the parliamentary caucus leader, and Peer Steinbrück, former minister-president of Nordrhein-Westfalen and former federal minister of Finance, were quasi-official contenders for the candidacy, incumbent Nordrhein-Westfalen minister-president Hannelore Kraft denied interest in the candidacy.^[16]

Gabriel, Steinmeier and Steinbrück all had a bad electoral record as they all had led their party into painful defeats in state or general elections (Gabriel and Steinbrück lost their inherited minister-president offices in 2003 and 2005, Steinmeier failed as a chancellor-candidate in 2009). On 28 September 2012, the party announced that Steinbrück would be the SPD's chancellor-candidate.^[17]

Campaign

After taking heat domestically for bailing out other European countries, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble took the step of mentioning that Greece would need a third bailout. This was in stark contrast to his colleagues who had refrained from making such measures in light of the election, it particularly followed Chancellor Angela Merkel's dismissal of a potential future bailout. In reaction to the statement and the dithering, the Social Democrats' Peer Steinbrueck said that it was "time that Mrs. Merkel tells people the truth;" while the Greens' Jürgen Trittin also criticized Merkel.^[18]

Merkel also became the first chancellor to visit Dachau concentration camp after an invitation by former inmate Max Mannheimer, who leads a survivor group. She said: "What happened at the concentration camps was and continues to be incomprehensible," while also warning of a rising tide of anti-Semitism and racism as a threat to democracy in Europe. Her visit was welcomed by residents of the town due to its historic nature but was also suggested as a vote ploy ahead of the election.^[19] She also campaigned on Germany's unemployment record that fell to a two-decade low during her premiership, progress towards a balanced budget and the eurozone's advantages for Germany’s exports. However, there were questions asked about her legacy and a potential heir to the party leadership.^[20] Campaigning in the "hot phase"^[21] ended on 21 September as Merkel appealed to voters to support her against eurosceptics.^[22]

Televised debates

A 90-minute televised debate between the two leading contenders was held on 1 September.^[23] The smaller-party top-ranking candidates Rainer Brüderle (FDP), Jürgen Trittin (Bündnis 90/Grüne) and Gregor Gysi (Die Linke) held a separate debate on 2 September.

Opinion polling

15-point average trend line of poll results from 2 October 2009 to 22 February 2015, with each line corresponding to a political party.

  CDU/CSU

  SPD

  FDP

  LINKE

  GRÜNE

  PIRATEN

  AfD

In Germany, there are regular opinion polls during the whole of the legislative period. Germany's major polling agencies are Allensbach, Emnid, Forsa, Forschungsgruppe Wahlen, GMS, Infratest dimap and INSA/YouGov. August 2013 opinion polls suggested that the CDU/CSU and FDP (black–yellow coalition) would be just short of or just above an absolute majority, rather than the SPD and Greens (red–green coalition), partners in the 1998–2005 Schröder government.^[24]

Results

Parliamentary districts won by
■ – CDU ■ – CSU ■ – SPD ■ – The Left ■ – Greens

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) scored 42 percent of the vote, their best result since tallying 44% in the 1990 election. Since some 15 percent of the vote went to parties that fell short of the 5% threshold, the CDU/CSU came up just five seats short of a majority. The Free Democratic Party (FDP), junior partner in the outgoing coalition government, failed to pass the 5% threshold. It failed to win any directly elected seats either (it has not won any directly elected seats since 1990), thus shutting it out of the Bundestag altogether for the first time in the party's history. A new eurosceptic party, the Alternative for Germany, nearly won seats but like the FDP was shut out by narrowly missing the 5% threshold.^[25][26] This will also mean that only four parties will form the Bundestag for the first time since the 1987 election (CDU/CSU operate as one Bundestag group).

 Summary of the 22 September 2013 German Bundestag election results^[27]

Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Seats	+/−	%
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)[lower-alpha 1]	16,233,642	37.2	5.2	191	18	14,921,877	34.1	6.9	64	43	255	61	40.5
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	12,843,458	29.4	1.5	58	6	11,252,215	25.7	2.7	135	53	193	47	30.5
	The Left (DIE LINKE)	3,585,178	8.2	2.9	4	12	3,755,699	8.6	3.3	60	±0	64	12	10.2
	Alliance '90/The Greens (GRÜNE)	3,180,299	7.3	1.9	1	±0	3,694,057	8.4	2.3	62	5	63	5	10.0
	Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU)[lower-alpha 1]	3,544,079	8.1	0.7	45	±0	3,243,569	7.4	0.9	11	11	56	11	8.9
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	1,028,645	2.4	7.1	0	±0	2,083,533	4.8	9.8	0	93	0	93	0
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	810,915	1.9	1.9	0	±0	2,056,985	4.7	4.7	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Pirate Party (PIRATEN)	963,623	2.2	2.1	0	±0	959,177	2.2	0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	635,135	1.5	0.3	0	±0	560,828	1.3	0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Free Voters (FW)	431,640	1.0	1.0	0	±0	423,977	1.0	1.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Human Environment Animal Protection (Tierschutzpartei)	4,437	0.0	0.0	0	±0	140,366	0.3	0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ödp)	128,209	0.3	±0.0	0	±0	127,088	0.3	±0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	The Republicans (REP)	27,299	0.1	±0.0	0	±0	91,193	0.2	0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Die PARTEI	39,388	0.1	0.1	0	±0	78,674	0.2	0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Bavaria Party (BP)	28,430	0.1	±0.0	0	±0	57,395	0.1	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Alliance for Germany (Volksabstimmung)	1,748	0.0	±0	0	±0	28,654	0.1	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Marxist Leninist Party (MLPD)	12,904	0.0	±0.0	0	±0	24,219	0.1	±0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Pensioners' Party (RENTNER)	920	0.0	±0	0	±0	25,134	0.1	0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Party of Bible-abiding Christians (PBC)	2,081	0.0	±0.0	0	±0	18,542	0.0	0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BüSo)	17,988	0.0	±0.0	0	±0	12,814	0.0	0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Alliance 21/RRP (Bündnis 21/RRP)	5,324	0.0	0.1	0	±0	8,578	0.0	0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	The Violets – for Spiritual Politics (DIE VIOLETTEN)	2,516	0.0	±0.0	0	±0	8,211	0.0	0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Family Party (FAMILIE)	4,478	0.0	±0.0	0	±0	7,449	0.0	0.3	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Social Equality Party (PSG)	–	–	–	–	–	4,564	0.0	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Electoral groups and independents	131,873	0.3	±0	0	±0	143,462	0.3	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
Total valid		43,625,042	98.4	0.2	299	±0	43,726,856	98.7	0.1	332	9	631	9	±0
Invalid ballots		684,883	1.6	0.1			583,069	1.3	0.1
Total (turnout: 71.5% 0.7pp)		44,309,925	100.0				44,309,925	100.0

1. The Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria call themselves sister parties. They do not compete against each other in the same geographical regions and they form one group within the Bundestag.

Popular Vote
CDU/CSU			41.54%
SPD			25.73%
DIE LINKE			8.59%
B'90/GRÜNE			8.45%
FDP			4.76%
AfD			4.70%
PIRATEN			2.19%
Other			4.02%

Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU			49.29%
SPD			30.59%
DIE LINKE			10.14%
B'90/GRÜNE			9.98%

Results by state

Second Vote ("Zweitstimme", or votes for party list)

State[28] results in %	CDU/CSU	SPD	LINKE	GRÜNE	FDP	AfD	all others
Baden-Württemberg	45.7	20.6	4.8	11.0	6.2	5.2	6.5
Bavaria	49.3	20.0	3.8	8.4	5.1	4.2	9.2
Berlin	28.5	24.6	18.5	12.3	3.6	4.9	7.6
Brandenburg	34.8	23.1	22.4	4.7	2.5	6.0	6.5
Bremen	29.3	35.7	10.1	12.1	3.4	3.7	5.7
Hamburg	32.2	32.4	8.8	12.6	4.8	4.1	5.1
Hesse	39.2	28.8	6.0	9.9	5.6	5.6	4.9
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	42.5	17.8	21.5	4.3	2.2	5.6	6.1
Lower Saxony	41.1	33.1	5.0	8.8	4.2	3.7	4.1
North Rhine-Westphalia	39.8	31.9	6.1	8.0	5.2	3.9	5.1
Rhineland-Palatinate	43.3	27.5	5.4	7.6	5.5	4.8	5.9
Saarland	37.8	31.0	10.0	5.7	3.8	5.2	6.5
Saxony	42.6	14.6	20.0	4.9	3.1	6.8	8.0
Saxony-Anhalt	41.2	18.2	23.9	4.0	2.6	4.2	5.9
Schleswig-Holstein	39.2	31.6	5.2	9.4	5.6	4.6	4.4
Thuringia	38.8	16.1	23.4	4.9	2.6	6.2	8.0

Reactions

Merkel said: "It was a strong vote to take responsibility in Germany, but also in Europe and the world."^[29] Peer Steinbrück announced his withdrawal from top politics and intends to focus on his ordinary tasks as a member of parliament.^[30]

Government formation

Many SPD insiders do not want to work with The Left. One day after the election, Merkel announced that she had already spoken with the SPD, but would not rule out other possibilities.^[31] An opinion poll conducted shortly after the election showed that 65% of SPD members were opposed to entering a Merkel-led grand coalition,^[32] however the SPD executive voted to enter coalition talks^[33] with the proviso that they would seek a vote from their membership before making a final agreement on entering a coalition.^[34]

The Greens were "open" to coalition talks with the CDU/CSU,^[35] but CSU leaders said they opposed a coalition with the Greens.^[36] The Greens announced they would not consider going into coalition with the Left.^[37]

Formal talks began in the first week of October when Merkel met SPD leaders on 4 October. She said: "Europe is watching us, the world is watching us. We have the common responsibility to build a stable government." She also planned to hold talks with the Greens the following week.^[38] After five weeks of negotiations that culminated in an all-night session 27–28 November, the CDU/CSU reached agreement with the SPD to form a new coalition government. Issues resolved in the talks included the planned introduction of a minimum hourly wage of €8.50 in 2015 and no new taxes. The deal depended on approval by the SPD rank and file, with a poll set for 6 December.^[39][40][41] On 14 December, 76% of the SPD's members voted for the coalition to go ahead. The new government under Chancellor Angela Merkel was sworn in on 17 December.^[42]

See also

• List of German Bundestag constituencies
• Merkel-Raute: Described by The Guardian as "probably one of the most recognisable hand gestures in the world", Angela Merkel's trademark has become a political symbol used by both her supporters and opponents.^[43]

References

1. http://en.die-linke.de/index.php?id=11534
2. "Rösler bleibt FDP-Chef - Brüderle als Spitzenkandidat". Retrieved 21 January 2013.
3. "Dates and deadlines for the Election to the 18th German Bundestag on 22 September 2013". The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved 23 September 2013. Casting of votes as a rule from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
4. (English) « German elections: Politikverdrossenheit and rightist fears », Katrin Heilmann, Le Journal International, 22 September 2013
5. Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. Official translation. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
6. Stenographic protocol of the first session of the Bundestag. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
7. Dates for elections in Germany. Wahlrecht.de. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
8. Anordnung des Bundespräsidenten über die Bundestagswahl 2013. Website of the German Federal President. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
9. "German political system". www.rogerdarlington.me.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
10. "Federal Constitutional Court decision on the Federal Election Law". Bverfg.de. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
11. Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
12. Bill amending the Federal Election Law. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
13. ZEIT ONLINE GmbH, Hamburg, Germany (22 February 2013). "Bundestag: Deutschland hat ein neues Wahlrecht | ZEIT ONLINE". Zeit.de. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
14. The FDP named their chairman, Guido Westerwelle, chancellor-candidate in 2002.
15. For example, the Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität with its chancellor-candidate Helga Zepp-LaRouche in the 2009 election. See Die BüSo wird Recht behalten: Weltfinanzsystem kurz vor der Desintegration!. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
16. Steinbrück, Steinmeier - oder doch Hannelore Kraft?. Augsburger Allgemeine. 3 June 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
17. "Steinbrück wird Kanzlerkandidat" [Steinbrück to be chancellor-candidate] (in German). ARD. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
18. Financial Crisis. "Greece needs third bail-out, admits German finance minister". Telegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
19. "German chancellor visits former Nazi camp - Europe". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
20. Czuczka, Tony. "Merkel Seeks Mandate to Top Thatcher as Third-Term Risks Loom". Bloomberg. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
21. Bollier, Sam (21 September 2013). "Germany's election campaign draws to a close". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
22. "Germany rivals conclude election campaigns". Al Jazeera. 21 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
23. "Merkel to face rival in German TV debate - Europe". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
24. "Average of polling chart by pollytix". Pollytix.eu. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
25. "Merkel triumphs in German vote but allies crushed". News OK. 18 September 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
26. Wittrock, Philipp. "Conservatives React to Success of Merkel in German Election". SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
27. "Final result of the Election to the German Bundestag 2013". The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
28. Land (sic) results
29. Young, Marc (23 September 2013). "More Merkel: The upshot of the German election". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
30. Crossland, David (30 September 2013). "World From Berlin: Coalition Talks Could Last Into January". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
31. Bollier, Sam (24 September 2013). "Germany's Merkel looks for 'grand coalition'". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
32. Martin, Michelle; Jones, Gareth (27 September 2013). "Majority of SPD members oppose coalition with Merkel: poll". Reuters. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
33. "German SPD agrees to meet with Merkel". Global Times. Agence France-Press. 29 September 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
34. "Merkel ally attacks left plan to poll members over tie-up". Oman Daily Observer. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
35. "Greens open to coalition talks with Merkel's CDU". Deutsche Welle. AFP, dpa, Reuters. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
36. Breidthardt, Annika (24 September 2013). "Merkel camp eyes tie-up with Social Democrats, shuns Greens". The Star. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
37. "Merkel begins search for coalition partner after election win". Financial Times. 23 September 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013. (subscription required)
38. "Merkel, rivals to continue coalition talks". Al Jazeera. Reuters. 4 October 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
39. Lindsey, Daryl (27 November 2013). "Coalition Deal: Merkel Reaches Agreement on Next Government". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
40. "Deal reached on new government for Germany under Merkel". BBC News. 27 November 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
41. Smale, Alison; Eddy, Melissa (27 November 2013). "German Rivals Reach Pact for Coalition Government". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
42. "German party clears way for third Merkel term". Al Jazeera. 15 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
43. "'Merkel diamond' takes centre stage in German election campaign". The Guardian. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.

External links

• Official voting results from the Federal Returning Officer