Germany BSW not in the German Bundestag even after the final result
The left-wing populist alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) has missed out on entering the German parliament even after the final results of the Bundestag election.
14.03.2025, 12:37
SDA
The party of former Left Party parliamentary group leader Wagenknecht was awarded a further 4,277 valid second votes compared to the provisional result from election night, as the Federal Election Committee determined at its meeting in Berlin. However, with 4.98 percent, she still fell just short of the five percent threshold.
The overall result and the distribution of seats in the 21st German Bundestag remained unchanged. The CDU/CSU achieved 28.5 percent, the AfD 20.8 percent and the SPD 16.4 percent. The Greens achieved 11.6% and the Left Party 8.8%. The FDP was kicked out of the Bundestag with 4.3%. In seats this means: CDU/CSU 208, AfD 152, SPD 120, Greens 85, Left 64 and SSW 1.
If the BSW had subsequently succeeded in entering parliament, all previous efforts to form a new German government would have been invalidated. This is because the negotiating partners CDU/CSU and SPD would then probably no longer have a majority.
Slight vote corrections for several parties
BSW was not the only party to see minimal changes in the absolute number of valid second votes. For example, 1,674 votes were added for the CDU, 840 for the SPD and 1,632 for the AfD, while 121 votes were taken away from the FDP. These changes were mainly the result of corrections to the provisional second vote results in Lower Saxony (plus 3,271), Bavaria (plus 932) and Baden-Württemberg (plus 912), as Federal Returning Officer Ruth Brand said.
Brand also reported on minor shortcomings in the election. In the constituency of Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, the printer had also delivered ballot papers for Berlin-Pankow. 15 citizens had also used them to cast their votes. These ballot papers were declared invalid.
Three cases of double voting identified
In several federal states, ballot papers had inadvertently been sent out twice in individual cases. Immediate measures were taken there to prevent double voting.
Nevertheless, three cases of double voting were registered, for example in the Eichsfeld-Nordhausen-Kyffhäuserkreis constituency in Thuringia. There, one person distracted the electoral board at the polling station so that another person was able to take a second ballot paper and ultimately cast two ballots. Voters in Hamburg-Wandsbek and in the Erzgebirgskreis I constituency in Saxony also came twice and managed to vote twice. Criminal charges were filed in the three cases, Brand said.
