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The 23 German constituencies without a direct seat in the 2025 election
In Germany’s 2025 Bundestag election, 23 constituencies did not return a direct member because the leading party candidate lacked coverage from second votes. The Federal Returning Officer’s final returns distinguish the first-vote leader from the allocation of a constituency seat.
Sources checked
Counts group the 23 final constituency returns by state.
The two votes perform separate jobs
A first vote is for a candidate in a constituency. The second vote goes to a party’s state list and determines seats under proportional representation. The returning officer says a party candidate winning the most first votes must also have a seat backed by second votes. Source 3
Coverage is checked within a party and state
The party’s leading constituency candidates in a state are ranked by their first-vote percentages. The seats assigned to the party’s state list on the basis of second votes are allocated to those candidates in that order. The rule explains why a local first-vote leader can fail to obtain a direct seat. Source 3
The 23 constituencies span ten states
Baden-Württemberg recorded six such constituencies and Hesse five. Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate each had three. Six other states had one apiece. The 23 affected first-vote leaders were 15 CDU, four AfD, three CSU and one SPD candidates. Source 1
A constituency result is one part of the federal seat count
The final returns count 299 constituencies, of which 276 had an elected direct member under the published allocation. The complete Bundestag result was 630 seats. The missing direct seat entry describes how the seat was allocated under the coverage rule. Source 1 Source 2 Source 3