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State and district elections; information

The Bavarian State Parliament and the district assemblies are elected for a term of five years.

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Regierung von Mittelfranken

Street address

Promenade 27
91522 Ansbach

Postal address

Postfach 6 06

91511 Ansbach

Phone

+49 981 53-0

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Street address

Nürnberger Str. 95
90762 Fürth

Postal address

90725 Fürth

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Procedure details

State parliament elections are held every five years and are general, free, equal, direct and secret. All Germans within the meaning of Art. 116 Para. 1 of the Basic Law who are at least 18 years old on election day and have been resident or ordinarily resident in Bavaria for at least three months and are not excluded from voting as a result of a judge's decision are entitled to vote.

The 180 members of the state parliament are elected on the basis of "improved proportional representation". In each constituency (currently 91 in total), voters use their first vote to elect the respective constituency representative according to the principle of relative majority voting. However, the candidate with the most votes (unlike in federal elections) only enters the state parliament if the party or group of voters for which he or she is standing exceeds the 5% threshold statewide. There are no independent candidates (not standing for a party or group of voters) in state elections. With the second vote, voters have the choice between the individual candidates on the party or voter group lists nominated for each of the seven constituencies (government districts). In contrast to the Bundestag elections, voters can therefore not only vote for one party, but for a specific candidate on their list and thus influence the order of the candidates. To determine the result, first and second votes are added together (also in contrast to federal law). The seats won directly in the constituencies are counted towards the total seats of a constituency nomination calculated according to a certain proportional system and the remaining seats are allocated from the constituency list. The number of seats in the Landtag can increase as a result of overhang and compensatory seats. As a result, the proportion of votes is maintained.

The allocation of seats to the constituencies and any necessary adjustments to the constituency allocation must be carried out in accordance with electoral law before each upcoming election.

Elections to the district assemblies take place together with the respective state parliamentary elections. As many district councillors are to be elected as there are members of the state parliament in the respective district according to the state election law. The election is essentially held according to the same principles and in the same form as the state parliament election. The ballot papers are issued in a different color to distinguish them from those used in the state election. In contrast to the state election, there is no 5% blocking clause for the distribution of seats in the district election.

Status: 08.07.2025
Editorially responsible for prodecure description: Bayerisches Staatsministerium des Innern, für Sport und Integration
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