German Federal Election: When was the Voter Turnout the highest?

The highest voter turnout of the elections to the German Bundestag was in the 1970s. At that time, the turnout was over 90 percent. In 1972, Willy Brandt was elected to the Federal Chancellor with the historically highest turnout of 91.11%.

The following table lists the turnouts and the elected chancellors of all previous elections to the German Bundestag.

Since the 1970s, the voter turnout in Germany tends to take off and reached its preliminary low point in 2009 with only 70.78%. Also the following elections in 2013, 2017 and 2021 with 71.55%, 76.20% and 76.60% voting turnout marked only the second, third and fourth-deepest participation since the first election to the German Bundestag in 1949.

Only the early federal election in 2025 defies this trend and was able to attract more people to the ballot box than in almost 40 years before, marking the highest turnout since the reunification of Germany. However, only the next elections can show whether this election heralds a long-term trend reversal.