Germany elects a new parliament
Germany is voting. Germany stands at a crossroads. The AfD will become Germany's second-largest party. The SPD will suffer heavy losses. The CDU/CSU will win the elections. Based on the polls, it seems unlikely that the far-right AfD party will govern Germany after February 23. What do you know about the German elections? And if Germany sneezes, does the Netherlands develop flu symptoms?
German elections (February 23, 2025)
Since 1949, the citizens of the Federal Republic have elected the members of the Bundestag for a four-year term according to the principles of general, direct, free, equal, and secret elections. This is laid down in Article 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. The elected representatives, it states, “are representatives of the whole people, not bound by orders and instructions and subject only to their own conscience.” In principle, all Germans who have reached the age of 18 on the day of the elections have the right to vote and be elected in Bundestag elections.
The first newly elected German Bundestag convened in Bonn on September 7, 1949. Since the elections for the second German Bundestag in 1953, two votes have been cast in a Bundestag election. With the first vote, a candidate from the voter's constituency is directly elected. There are 299 constituencies in Germany, with approximately 250.000 Germans living in each. With the second vote, the voter votes for a specific party.
The Bundestag has 630 members. For proportional representation, only the result of the second votes is decisive. For the distribution of seats, it is first determined how many seats a party is entitled to for the whole of Germany. These seats are then distributed among the state lists of the respective party. To allocate the seats, the candidates with the most first votes in their constituencies are subsequently ranked in descending order of vote share and placed at the top of the state list. Based on this ranking, the seats are allocated to the successful candidates in the constituency.
If the number of successful candidates in the constituency exceeds the number of seats, and is therefore not covered by the number of second votes, the candidates in the constituency with the weakest results are not awarded a seat (coverage of second votes). If there are more seats for a party than successful constituency candidates in a state, the remaining seats are awarded to list candidates.
In principle, every party must receive at least five percent of the second votes distributed throughout Germany to be represented in the Bundestag. If a party's number of second votes falls below five percent, it can still enter the Bundestag with mandates corresponding to its share of the second votes, provided it has won a Direktmandat in at least three constituencies (basic mandate clause). The procedure for a Bundestag election is laid down in the Bundeswahlordnung. Its validity is verified by the Bundestag pursuant to the Electoral Examination Act (Wahhlprüfungsgesetz).
Reichstag building
The Reichstag Building (German: Reichstagsgebäude) is the German parliament building in the capital city of Berlin, located on the Plaza de la République (Platz der Republik). The current building dates from 1894. Until 1933, the Reichstag, a predecessor of the current parliament, the Bundestag, was seated here. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the building has witnessed the decline of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, and the 'Third Reich'. The name of the building is also sometimes abbreviated to Reichstag (German: Reichstag).
The building was severely damaged in the Reichstag fire of 1933. This fire was (most likely) set. The Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe was arrested, prosecuted, and executed as the perpetrator, but it is still disputed whether he started the fire, and if so, whether he was assisted.
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During the course of the war, the maternity ward of the nearby Charité was moved to the Reichstag, resulting in the birth of several hundred Berliners in the Reichstag. Consequently, to this day, many Berlin birth certificates list “Berlin – Reichstagsgebäude” as the place of birth.
On May 2, 1945, Georgian Sergeant Meliton Kantaria hoisted the Soviet flag on the Reichstag as a symbol of victory over the Nazi regime. Heavy fighting took place around the building, as both warring parties viewed it as a symbol of power over Germany. The frequently shown photographs and film footage of the storming by Russian troops and the raising of the red Soviet flag were staged a few days later, but they provide an impression.
During the Cold War, the heavily damaged building – now located in West Berlin, right against the Berlin Wall – was restored and modernized once again. However, it no longer served as a model for a unified Germany, but rather symbolized a divided country with a divided capital. Based on the assumption that the German division would last for decades, it was decided in 1971 to no longer use the building for political purposes, and it was assigned the function of the German Historical Institute.
When East and West Germany were reunited in October 1990, the ambition to use the Reichstag once again as the home of the parliament intensified. After a year, this plan was achieved, and since 1999, following a years-long period of renovations, the parliament of the reunited Germany was permanently moved from Bonn to Berlin. Prior to the major renovation, which took place primarily from 1995 onwards, the building was completely wrapped by the artist Christo in that same year.
Extensive architectural modifications were made to the building, designed by the architect. Norman Foster, with the construction of a transparent dome in the center of the roof. From the roof of the building, one can see the floor of the main storey and, consequently, the parliament in session through this dome. Its transparency serves as a metaphor, as it were, for the functioning of democracy. Part of the Russian graffiti and bullet holes from 1945 has been preserved behind plexiglass. The combination of old and new architecture is seen as an example of postmodernism in architecture. The Unity Flag, a large version of the German flag, flies in front of the building's west entrance. The building hosts not only Bundestag meetings but also commemorations, such as the annual Kristallnacht. The dome and rooftop terrace of the Reichstag building can be visited free of charge. However, visits are only possible after prior registration.
Rinus van der Lubbe was sentenced to death. That was remarkable, because at the time arson carried a maximum prison sentence of 8 years. How could he receive the death penalty then? After the arson, Hitler had introduced an opportunistic law (emergency law) punishable by death for arson intended to incite an uprising. And this was retroactive (which, of course, completely violates all legal rules). As a result, Rinus van der Lubbe from Leiden became the first Dutch Nazi victim.