At the start of an election campaign the big parties field their candidates for the top job. But it's not a done deal until the new parliament, the Bundestag, votes him or her in. DW explains how it works.
Angela Merkel taking her oath of office in 2018Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
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Germany is always run by a coalition of two or three parties, and the new Bundestag must hold its first session within 30 days of the general election, so the party that won the most votes begins its work fairly quickly.
The winner launches talks with the other parties, with the goal of finding a partner or partners, with whom it then controls an absolute majority of the seats in the Bundestag; the new government must, of course, be able to get legislation passed by parliament.
Once it's clear with whom the party that has won the most seats will establish a coalition, negotiations to draft a coalition agreement, the basis of the new government, can begin. The agreement lays down the new government's plans for the four-year term. And in these talks, the coalition partners name: who they want to be chancellor and who they want to hold which positions in the cabinet.
Next, the 600-plus members of the newly elected Bundestag hold their first session and vote for the next chancellor in a secret ballot. It's up to the President to suggest a candidate when the Bundestag convenes for the first time. He is not obliged to suggest the person the parties may have singled out in coalition talks, but he must present a candidate who has a reasonable chance of being voted in.
If that person receives an absolute majority in the first round of voting, the president must declare him or her chancellor.
So far, every German chancellor has been elected in the first round, though it has sometimes been close. Konrad Adenauer was elected West Germany's first chancellor in 1949 with the barest majority possible. Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl each received only one vote more than necessary when they were elected chancellor in 1974 and 1982 respectively. Angela Merkel's closest call was in 2009, when she got 323 of 612 votes, 16 more than she needed to be named chancellor.
If a majority of parliamentarians do not vote for the chancellor candidate in the first round, a second phase of voting starts. Bundestag members may suggest other candidates, but these candidates must have the backing of at least a quarter of the Bundestag. Over the subsequent two weeks, an indefinite number of voting rounds may take place.
If no chancellor is elected at the end of 14 days, one final round of voting takes place. If a candidate then receives an absolute majority, he or she is immediately named chancellor. But if he or she only gains a plurality of votes, President Steinmeier is given seven days to decide whether to accept a so-called "minority chancellor" - who would have the same rights as a chancellor elected by an absolute majority - or to dissolve the Bundestag. If he dissolves parliament, new elections must take place within 60 days.
This article was first published in 2017.
Germany's colorful coalition shorthand
Foreign flags and even traffic lights are used to describe the various coalitions that emerge in German elections. Coalitions are common under Germany's proportional representation system.
Image: Getty Images
'Traffic light' coalition — Red, Yellow, Green
Since 2021 Germany has been governed by a center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), ecologist Greens, and free-market-oriented neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), whose color is yellow. They started out as a self-declared "Fortschrittskoalition" (progress coalition) but got mired in infighting along the way.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/J.Büttner
Black-red coalition
The Conservative's black combined with transformative red is the color code when the Christian Democrats govern in a "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats. This combination of Germany's two big tent parties, was in power for eight years until 2021, led by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Image: picture-alliance/R. Goldmann
'Pizza Connection' — precursor to Black and Green
When Bonn was still Germany's capital, conservative and Greens lawmakers started meeting informally in an Italian restaurant, in what became known as the 'Pizza Connection.' At the regional level, Baden-Württemburg's Greens-CDU coalition has governed since 2016 and Germany's most populous state of North-Rhine Westphalia has had a Black-Green government since 2022.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
'Jamaica' option — black, yellow and green
A three-way deal between the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats FDP), whose color is yellow did not come about at national level in 2017 after the FDP called off talks. It has been tested at a state level, where Schleswig-Holstein had a "Jamaica" government until they went Black-Green in 2022.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/dpaweb
Black, Red, Green — like Kenya's flag
The eastern German state of Saxony has been governed by a coalition of CDU, SPD and Greens, headed by the state's popular Premier Michael Kretschmer. He is hoping to be able to stay in power despite the rise of the right-wing extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD) which is campaigning on an anti-immigrant and anti-NATO agenda.
Image: Fotolia/aaastocks
The Germany coalition — Black, Red and Yellow
The eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt has been governed by a coalition led by the CDU's popular Premier Rainer Haseloff. He has teamed up with the SPD and the FDP. The alliance of unlikely bedfellows was the only viable option to ward off the threat by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Image: Hoffmann/Caro/picture alliance
Black and Orange
Since 2018 Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) has been governing with the Free Voters (FV), whose color is Orange. The FV is a grass-roots populist and far-right-leaning party and is led by its controversial chairman Hubert Aiwanger. Strong in rural areas of southern and eastern Germany, the Freie Wähler is seeking a larger role at the national level and currently has three MEPs.
Image: Privat
Violet and Black?
In graphics showing opinion polls, the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is shown in violet. That may be fitting, as it combines socialist, far-left (red) with populist right wing (blue) ideas in its platform. Although the party was only founded in 2024, it is doing so well in the eastern German states that it may well be asked to join coalition governments. Possibly led by the CDU (Black).