Press

Press release no. 13/25 of 5. Februar 2025

2025 Bundestag election: number of candidates markedly down compared with 2021

WIESBADEN – In the Bundestag election on 23 February 2025, a total of 4,506 candidates will stand for election. The Federal Returning Officer also reports that 1,422 candidates are women (32%). There were 6,211 candidates in the last election on 26 September 2021 (2,024 or 33% of them women). The number of candidates in the 2025 election has therefore decreased by just under 1,700 compared with 2021.

In the forthcoming Bundestag election, 806 candidates only stand for election in a constituency and 1,841 candidates have only been nominated on a Land list. 1,859 candidates run for election both in a constituency and on a Land list. A total of 3,700 candidates (2021: 4,927) appear on the 229 Land lists of the 29 parties (2021: 338 Land lists of 40 parties) which have been admitted in the Länder with Land lists for the 2025 Bundestag election. 1,298 or 35% of these candidates are women (2021: 1,752 or 36%).

Constituency candidates of the SPD, the CDU/CSU Union Parties and the FDP are standing for election in all 299 constituencies. GRÜNE and Die Linke have each been admitted in 297 constituencies, and the AfD in 295 constituencies.

The number of independent candidates who are not affiliated with any political party has decreased significantly, from 197 in the 2021 Bundestag election to 62 in the 2025 Bundestag election. The total number of constituency candidates amounts to 2,665 (2021: 3,360), and 712 or 27% of them are women (2021: 960 or 29%). The average number of candidates per constituency is 8.9.

The ballot paper for constituency 82 “Berlin-Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg – Prenzlauer Berg Ost” contains the largest number of nominations, with a total of 20 entries. The smallest number of nominations is listed on the ballot papers of five constituencies in Thüringen (11 entries each).

587 of the current 733 Members of the German Bundestag run for election again. This corresponds to 80%.

94 candidates have reached the age of majority since the 2021 Bundestag election and are therefore eligible to stand for election for the first time. The youngest candidate for the 2025 Bundestag election is 18 years old and runs for election in constituency 295 “Zollernalb – Sigmaringen” in Baden-Württemberg. The oldest candidate is 88 years old and is a Land list candidate in Hamburg. The average age of the 4,506 candidates for the 2025 Bundestag election is 45.3 years (2021: 45.5 years).

More detailed information on the nominations admitted and the candidates standing for election is provided in the publication “Die Wahlbewerberinnen und Wahlbewerber für die Wahl zum 21. Deutschen Bundestag 2025”. This publication also lists the names of all the candidates and contains summary tables with information on the proportion of women, the age of the candidates and their occupational groups, for example. A CSV file for automated processing is also available.

More information can be found on the website of the Federal Returning Officer at www.bundeswahlleiterin.de.

 


The Federal Returning Officer has also launched a new WhatsApp channel to inform the public about the early election to the German Bundestag on 23 February 2025. The latest information about the election procedure, important dates and deadlines, and statements correcting any misinformation are now available on the “Bundeswahlleiterin” channel. Click “Subscribe” to follow us.

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