Federal election 2025: Who will win the race for power in Germany?

The focus in Germany today is on the federal election, an event that will decide the future political landscape of Europe's largest economy. The ballot boxes have been open since 8 a.m. and the approximately 59 million citizens eligible to vote are called upon to cast their votes. According to the live ticker from krone.at, the Union under candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) could probably emerge from the election as the strongest force, closely followed by the AfD. The SPD and the Greens traditionally rank in the middle, while the Left is expected to enter parliament again. The small parties, including the FDP and Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), however, have to worry about their place in the Bundestag.

Forming a government could prove complex and lengthy, as there could be between four and seven factions in parliament, depending on the election outcome. Clear majorities for the classic political camps, i.e. center-right and center-left, no longer seem to exist. The distribution of the 736 seats in the Bundestag will be crucial for how Germany is governed over the next four years. It is also interesting that an estimated 239,500 Germans live in Austria, but not all of them are eligible to vote. The Federal Returning Officer reported that around 213,000 entries from Germans abroad had been registered in the electoral rolls by Thursday, with the responsible local authorities playing an important role, as krone.at explains.

Facts about the Federal Republic of Germany

Parliamentary democracy in Germany has been led by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier since 2017 and by Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 2021. The Bundestag represents the country's approximately 84 million citizens, while the Bundesrat organizes the interests of the 16 federal states, including the capital Berlin. Berlin is not only the largest city in Germany with almost 3.7 million inhabitants, but also an independent federal state.

The Federal Republic's economic indicators are impressive: in 2022, the value of exports was approximately 1,575 billion euros, with the most important exports including automobiles and machinery. This economic strength could be further impacted by today's election. The importance of the federal election cannot be underestimated, because it will shape how Germany and therefore Europe will act in the coming years, which affects the entire population, as can be read on deutschland.de.