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093Votes and parliamentary seats

The second vote determines a party's strength.

With the second vote you choose a state list. A party's share of the relevant second votes determines how many Bundestag seats it receives.

About 4 min readReviewed: 19 October 2026
A plain wooden ballot box beside a folded blank sheet and a pencil.
Federal Elections ActSection 4 · Seat allocation
Fictional voting scene; no official ballot or election result depicted.
The short answer

More second votes mean more seats in parliament.

The catalogue answer describes the proportional relationship. What matters is the vote share relative to other included parties, not a fixed number of extra seats for each individual vote.

Try it for yourselfExam question · No. 093
The more 'second votes' a party gets in a federal election, the …

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Two votes serve different purposes.

The first vote is for a constituency candidate; the second is for a party's state list. The second vote is generally decisive for the balance between parties in the Bundestag.

Seats are allocated using a statutory calculation method. The result must be whole mandates, not fractions of a seat. A small increase in votes therefore need not immediately produce an additional seat.

An educator with long silver braids explains something at a table to two adults with short wavy hair and a pale blue hair covering.
Fictional study group discussing the difference between vote count and vote share.

The other three answers

The question concerns seat shares, not a personal or political obligation.

fewer first votes it can have.

First and second votes are cast separately. More second votes do not automatically reduce first votes.

more direct candidates of the party enter parliament.

A higher second-vote share does not automatically mean more successful constituency candidates. Constituency results and statutory second-vote coverage require separate consideration.

greater the risk of having to form a coalition.

A coalition results from political cooperation after the election. It is not a mathematical risk that must increase with each additional second vote.

Threshold rules are part of the full explanation.

Not every party is included in seat allocation. At the reviewed date, the five-percent threshold applies with the court's transitional rule for parties whose candidates receive the most first votes in at least three constituencies. Parties representing national minorities have a separate exemption.

The test wording summarises the principle. It is not a method for calculating a particular election result; that requires all relevant votes and the applicable allocation rules.

Section 4 · Seat allocation · Federal Elections Act ↗
Your memory cue

Second vote → party shares → seats.

The first vote selects a constituency candidate; the second shapes the balance in the Bundestag.

Three words for this question

die Zweitstimmesecond vote
The vote for a party's state list in a federal election.
der Stimmenanteilvote share
A party's proportion of the relevant total votes.
das Mandatparliamentary seat / mandate
The position as a member of parliament obtained through an election.
Bundeswahlgesetz · § 4 ↗

Connect election results with parliament and its groups.

74What is the parliament for all of Germany called?
Catalogue answer

Bundestag

Which parliament represents Germany at federal level?

89What is the association of members of parliament from one party called in Germany?
Catalogue answer

Parliamentary group (Fraktion)

How do MPs organise in parliamentary groups?

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Sources & context

An independently written study guide, not an official BAMF publication or advice for an individual case. The sources below were reviewed on 19 October 2026 for the claims explained here; the test question comes from the existing question bank.

  • Bundeswahlgesetz · § 4 ↗Regulates proportional allocation using second votes and the conditions for including parties; the court's transitional rule is recorded in the legal portal.
  • Bundeswahlleiterin · Das Wahlsystem ↗Explains first and second votes and the second-vote coverage of constituency mandates under the applicable system.
  • BAMF · Gesamtfragenkatalog ↗Question 93 from the existing question bank, stated catalogue date 7 May 2025. The PDF could not be retrieved during this review; the existing questions and translations were not replaced.

The two editorial pictures are AI-generated illustrations. They do not document real events or official proceedings.