CDU/CSU's near-majority forced a grand coalition with the SPD, marking the FDP's first-ever exclusion from the Bundestag and the AfD's emergence.
Key Facts
- Bundestag seats at stake
- 598 regular + 33 overhang
- CDU/CSU vote share
- ~42%
- CDU/CSU seat share
- ~50%, five short of majority
- FDP result
- Below 5% threshold; no seats for first time
- AfD vote
- Narrowly missed 5% threshold
- Grand coalitions since WWII
- Third in German history
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU sought re-election after governing with the FDP, but polls suggested a tight race. The FDP had suffered declining support throughout the parliamentary term, and a new Eurosceptic party, the AfD, founded in February 2013, entered the contest, threatening to fragment the centre-right vote and alter the coalition arithmetic.
On 22 September 2013, German voters elected the 18th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU won nearly 42% of the vote, their best result since 1990, falling just five seats short of an outright majority. The FDP failed to clear the 5% threshold for the first time in its history, losing all Bundestag representation, while the AfD also narrowly missed the threshold.
With the FDP eliminated and a left-wing red–red–green coalition ruled out by the SPD and Greens, Merkel's CDU/CSU negotiated a grand coalition with the SPD — the third in post-war German history. SPD members ratified the agreement in a membership ballot. The AfD, denied seats in 2013, went on to lead the opposition after the 2017 federal election.
Political Outcome
CDU/CSU and SPD formed a grand coalition government under Chancellor Angela Merkel after the FDP was eliminated from the Bundestag and no other majority was possible.
CDU/CSU–FDP coalition government
CDU/CSU–SPD grand coalition government