After the governing coalition led by the Social Democrats (SPD) collapsed, German leaders have tentatively agreed to seek a new election date in February 2025 after a planned vote of confidence in December 2024, which moves it up from the 28 September 2025 date previously announced (Politico, Deutsche Welle, Deutscheland.de). Germany has a "two vote" system whereby voters vote for a candidate ("first vote") in a constituency as well as a political party ("second vote") (German Federal Ministry of the Interior). A party cannot win seats in an election by proportional allocation rules without receiving at least 5% of the vote, unless the party wins three constituent seats in the same election (US News & World Report, Yahoo [Reuters], Deutsche Welle, German Federal Constitutional Court). In a change, there will be 630 seats up for the next Bundestag (Politico). If the election date is changed, the closing date will be adjusted accordingly.

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