Bundestag - Election result

The more powerful of the two houses of parliament of the German Federal Republic, the other being the Bundesrat (‘Federal Council’). Elections for the Bundestag are held every four years in the autumn. It is possible for the Bundestag to be dissolved and elections held before the end of the fixed term, and this has happened twice (in 1972 and 1983). In addition to legislating, the Bundestag selects the Chancellor and supports his government. Following the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990, the Bundestag was enlarged to 656 members, and the Bundesrat to 68 members. After World War 2, the Bundesrat was opened in Bonn in 1949 and remained in session there until 1999. It then moved to the Reichstag building in Berlin, where all plenary meetings are now held. The Reichstag building, destroyed in a fire in 1933, was restored and redesigned by British architect Sir Norman Foster in the 1990s.

Election result

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Summary of the 18 September 2005 German Federal Diet (Bundestag) election results

Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Total	+/−	%
	Christian Democratic Union (Christlich-Demokratische Union)	15,390,950	32.6	+0.6	106	+24	13,136,740	27.8	-1.7	74	-34	180	-10	29.3
	Christian Social Union of Bavaria (Christlich Soziale Union in Bayern)	3,889,990	8.2	-0.8	44	+1	3,494,309	7.4	-1.6	2	-13	46	-12	7.5
CDU/CSU		19,280,940	40.8	-0.2	150	+25	16,631,049	35.2	-3.3	76	-47	226	-22	36.8
	Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands)	18,129,100	38.4	-3.5	145	-26	16,194,665	34.2	-4.3	77	-3	222	-29	36.2
	Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei)	2,208,531	4.7	+1.1	0	0	4,648,144	9.8	+2.5	61	+14	61	+14	9.9
	The Left Party (Die Linkspartei)	3,764,168	8.0	+3.6	3	+1	4,118,194	8.7	+4.7	51	+51	54	+52	8.8
	Alliance '90/The Greens (Bündnis '90/Die Grünen)	2,538,913	5.4	-0.2	1	0	3,838,326	8.1	-0.5	50	-4	51	-4	8.3
	Other	1,272,410	2.7	–	0	0	1,857,610	4.0	–	0	0	0	0	–
	Totals	47,194,062	100	–	299	–	47,287,988	100	–	315	+11	614	+11	100

Seats by party (16th Bundestag, since general election on September 18th, 2005)

+	CDU and CSU:	226	(36.8%)	including 7 overhang seats
+	SPD:	222	(36.2%)	including 9 overhang seats
+	FDP:	61	(9.9%)
+	Left Party:	54	(8.8%)
+	Alliance '90/Greens:	51	(8.3%)

For a list of current members, see the List of Bundestag Members.

List of Bundestag by Session

Historic seat distribution in the German Bundestag

Historic seat distribution in the German Bundestag (at the beginning of each session)
	Session	Seats	CDU/CSU	SPD	FDP	Alliance '90 / The Greens1	Left Party2	German Party	Others
1st	1949 – 1953	402	139	131	52	–	–	17	Bavarian Party 17, Communist Party of Germany 15, Economic Development Coalition (WAV) 12, German Centre Party 10, DKP-DRP 5, South Schleswig Voter Federation 1, Independent 3
2nd	1953 – 1957	487	243	151	48	–	–	15	All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB-BHE) 27, German Centre Party 3
3rd	1957 – 1961	497	270	169	41	–	–	17	–
4th	1961 – 1965	499	242	190	67	–	–	–	–
5th	1965 – 1969	496	245	202	49	–	–	–	–
6th	1969 – 1972	496	242	224	30	–	–	–	–
7th	1972 – 1976	496	225	230	41	–	–	–	–
8th	1976 – 1980	496	243	214	39	–	–	–	–
9th	1980 – 1983	497	226	218	53	–	–	–	–
10th	1983 – 1987	498	244	193	34	27	–	–	–
11th	1987 – 1990	497	223	186	46	42	–	–	–
12th	1990 – 1994	662	319	239	79	8	17	–	–
13th	1994 – 1998	672	294	252	47	49	30	–	–
14th	1998 – 2002	669	245	298	43	47	36	–	–
15th	2002 – 2005	603	248	251	47	55	2	–	–
16th	since 2005	614	226	222	61	51	54	–	–

1: 1983 to 1990 The Greens, 1990 to 1994 Alliance 90, since 1994 Alliance 90/The Greens
2: 1990 to 2005 PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism), since 2005 The Left Party

For detailed information on particular sessions of the Bundestag, please refer to the List of German Bundestage.