2005 German Federal Election
Merkel's first win18 September 2005 · The Berlin Republic · 614 seats, 308 for a majority
A federal election was held in Germany on 18 September 2005 to elect the members of the 16th Bundestag. The snap election was called after the government's defeat in the North Rhine-Westphalia state election, which caused them to intentionally lose a motion of confidence to trigger an early federal election.
Chancellor before
Gerhard Schröder
SPD
Chancellor after
Angela Merkel
CDU
Largest force
CDU/CSU
226 of 614 seats
Turnout
77.7%
The result
| Share of the chamber | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDU/CSU | Angela Merkel | 226 | -22 | 16.631.049 | 35.2% | -3.3 | |
| SPD | Gerhard Schröder | 222 | -29 | 16.194.665 | 34.2% | -4.3 | |
| FDP | Guido Westerwelle | 61 | +14 | 4.648.144 | 9.8% | +2.4 | |
| The Left.PDS | Gregor Gysi & | 54 | +52 | 4.118.194 | 8.7% | +4.7 | |
| Greens | — | 51 | -4 | 3.838.326 | 8.1% | -0.5 |