Germany

Federal elections were held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the members of the Bundestag (Parliament).

In this Global Vote, our results matched the outcome of the formal election more closely than usual, implying that the values of the German electorate are broadly similar to those of Global Voters.

In the Global Vote as in the formal election in Germany, Angela Merkel was the clear winner (39% in the Global Vote and 33% in the formal election), with Martin Schulz in second place (20% in the Global Vote and 20.5% in the formal election).

The big difference was the vote for the AFD, the right-wing populist and Eurosceptic party: the AFD candidates received just 2% of the Global Vote but 12.6% of the formal vote in Germany. By contrast, the Greens won 17% of the Global Vote but only 8.9% of the formal vote.

As is the practice with assembly elections on the Global Vote, we gave voters the opportunity to vote for the Head of Government rather than for a party, as if this were a direct election of the country's leader.