2017 German federal election facts for kids

The German Bundestag after the 2017 election: CDU/CSU: 246* seats SPD: 153 seats AfD: 94 seats FDP: 80 seats The Left: 69 seats Greens: 67 seats * CDU: 200, CSU: 46.

The 2017 German federal election was held in Germany on 24 September 2017. The Christian Democratic Union won 33% of the vote, but both them and the Social Democratic Party lost many seats. The Alternative for Germany and Free Democratic Party both entered parliament and made great gains.

Parties

Major

These parties have received at least 4% of the national vote in the last German federal election, and are predicted to win seats in this next election.

Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU): led by Angela Merkel. The party is liberal conservative and pro-European Union. Together with the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU), a conservative party.
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): led by Martin Schulz. The party supports social democracy and is pro-European Union.
The Left: led by Sahra Wagenknecht and Dietmar Bartsch. The Left is a democratic socialist party.
Alliance '90/The Greens: led by Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Cem Özdemir. The party supports green politics and is pro-European Union.
Free Democratic Party (FDP): led by Christian Lindner. The party supports classical liberalism and economic liberalism. The FDP is also pro-European Union.
Alternative for Germany (AfD): led by Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland. The party is nationalistic and is against the European Union.

Minor

These parties received at least 1% of the national vote in the last German federal election.

Pirate Party Germany: led by Patrick Schiffer. The party supports Pirate politics and is socially liberal.
National Democratic Party of Germany (NDP): led by Frank Franz. The NDP is a neo-Nazi party.
Free Voters: not a registered political party. The association attracts many conservative voters in the south.

Opinion polls

Below is the monthly average of opinion polls towards the election.

Results

Parties		Party list			Total seats
Parties		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	%
	CDU/CSU	15,317,344	32.93%	8.61%	246	65	34.7%
	Social Democratic Party	9,539,381	20.51%	5.22%	153	40	21.6%
	Alternative for Germany	5,878,115	12.64%	7.94%	94	94	13.3%
	Free Democratic Party	4,999,449	10.75%	5.99%	80	80	11.3%
	The Left	4,297,270	9.24%	0.65%	69	5	9.7%
	Alliance '90/The Greens	4,158,400	8.94%	0.49%	67	4	9.4%

	Free Voters	463,292	1.00%	0.03%	0	0	0.0%
	Die PARTEI	454,349	0.98%	0.80%	0	0	0.0%
	Human Environment Animal Protection	374,179	0.80%	0.48%	0	0	0.0%
	National Democratic Party	176,020	0.38%	0.90%	0	0	0.0%
	Pirate Party	173,476	0.37%	1.82%	0	0	0.0%
	Others	684,217	1.47%	0.20%	0	0	0.0%
Totals		46,515,492	100.0%	0	709	0	100.0%

Results by state

State results in %	CDU/CSU	SPD	AfD	FDP	LINKE	GRÜNE	FW	PARTEI	all others
Baden-Württemberg	34.4	16.4	12.2	12.7	6.4	13.5	0.7	0.7	3.0
Bavaria	38.8	15.3	12.4	10.2	6.1	9.8	2.7	0.7	4.0
Berlin	22.7	17.9	12.0	8.9	18.8	12.6	0.3	2.1	4.7
Brandenburg	26.7	17.6	20.2	7.1	17.2	5.0	1.2	1.3	3.7
Bremen	25.0	26.8	10.0	9.3	13.5	11.0	0.4	1.7	2.3
Hamburg	27.2	23.5	7.8	10.8	12.2	13.9	0.4	1.6	2.6
Hesse	30.9	23.5	11.9	11.6	8.1	9.7	0.9	0.9	2.5
Lower Saxony	34.9	27.4	9.1	9.3	6.9	8.7	0.4	0.9	2.4
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	33.1	15.1	18.6	6.2	17.8	4.3	0.8	1.0	3.1
North Rhine-Westphalia	32.6	26.0	9.4	13.1	7.5	7.6	0.3	0.8	2.7
Rhineland-Palatinate	35.9	24.2	11.2	10.4	6.8	7.6	1.4	1.0	1.5
Saarland	32.4	27.2	10.1	7.6	12.9	6.0	0.8	1.3	1.7
Saxony	26.9	10.5	27.0	8.2	16.1	4.6	1.1	1.3	4.3
Saxony-Anhalt	30.3	15.2	19.6	7.8	17.8	3.7	1.2	1.1	3.3
Schleswig-Holstein	34.0	23.3	8.2	12.6	7.3	12.0	0.6	1.2	0.8
Thuringia	28.8	13.2	22.7	7.8	16.9	4.1	1.6	1.5	3.4

Voter turnout

States	Voter turnout
Baden-Württemberg	78.3%
Bavaria	78.2%
Berlin	75.6%
Brandenburg	73.7%
Bremen	70.7%
Hamburg	75.9%
Hesse	77.0%
Lower Saxony	76.4%
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	70.9%
North Rhine-Westphalia	75.4%
Rhineland-Palatinate	77.6%
Saarland	76.6%
Saxony	75.4%
Saxony-Anhalt	68.1%
Schleswig-Holstein	76.5%
Thuringia	74.3%

Election leaders

Images for kids

The disproportionality of the German federal election 2017 was 3.90 according to the Gallagher Index
The father of the house of the 19th Bundestag, Hermann Otto Solms