Berlin State Election 2026

What this countdown tracks

Berlin votes on 20 September 2026 to elect the Abgeordnetenhaus, the city-state parliament that chooses the Governing Mayor and legislates for Germany's capital. A minimum of 147 members will be seated under the personalised proportional system used since 1995.

Background

The Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin is the unicameral legislature of the Land Berlin, one of Germany's 16 federal states. Elections are held every five years under the Berlin State Electoral Law, which combines constituency first votes and list second votes with a 5 percent threshold. The statutory minimum size is 130 seats, but overhang and balance seats have pushed recent chambers to 147–159 members.

The 2026 ballot follows the repeat election of 12 February 2023, which the Federal Constitutional Court ordered after organisational failures during the 2021 vote. That repeat produced a grand coalition of the CDU under Kai Wegner and the SPD under Franziska Giffey (later Raed Saleh); Wegner was elected Governing Mayor on 27 April 2023. Standing issues for 2026 include the BVG transit finances, the Tempelhof Field referendum legacy, housing rents under the state's acquisition programme, and federal-state disputes over migration policy. Berlin's 2023 vote distributed seats among six parliamentary groups: CDU (52), SPD (34), Greens (34), Die Linke (22), AfD (17) and the FDP narrowly retaining group status before losing it mid-term. District-level elections for the 12 Bezirksverordnetenversammlungen are held on the same ballot.

Polling in the first half of 2026 has shown a tight contest among CDU, SPD, Greens, Die Linke and AfD, with the BSW (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht) likely contesting its first Berlin state election.

Why the date matters

The five-year term of the Abgeordnetenhaus elected on 12 February 2023 runs until autumn 2028 under ordinary rules, but Berlin law fixed the next regular election for 20 September 2026 because the 2023 vote was a repeat of the annulled 2021 poll and inherits its electoral cycle. The date therefore re-synchronises Berlin with the pre-2021 schedule and is the first Berlin vote held on a standalone Sunday rather than alongside a Bundestag election since 2011. Unlike 2021, when voters juggled the federal ballot, a state referendum on housing expropriation and the Berlin Marathon on the same day, 2026 returns the capital to a clean single-event Sunday.

What to watch for

• Whether CDU-SPD keep a two-party majority or need a third partner
• AfD performance in eastern districts such as Marzahn-Hellersdorf
• BSW's debut vote share in a Western urban electorate
• Turnout compared with 63.0 percent in February 2023
• District-level ballot handling after 2021 failures
• Coalition-building signals from the Greens and Die Linke
• Final seat total after overhang and balance allocation
• FDP performance against the 5 percent national threshold
• Postal-vote share as an indicator of election-day logistics

Coalition arithmetic

A working majority in the Abgeordnetenhaus requires 74 of an expected 147 seats. The incumbent CDU-SPD combination held 86 seats after 2023, but polling through 2026 suggests the arithmetic could tighten. A three-party red-green-red coalition similar to the 2016–2023 arrangement would need the Greens, SPD and Die Linke to recover lost ground against a rising AfD in the east and a CDU holding steady in the west. The BSW's entry would further fragment the left and could force a Kenia coalition (CDU-SPD-Greens) or a grand coalition with an additional Green partner. Governing Mayor Wegner faces no direct popular vote, since the Abgeordnetenhaus elects the head of government in a secret-ballot vote conducted within 30 days of its first sitting.

Related events to track

Germany watchers will pair this vote with the Karlsruhe inheritance-tax ruling and the Cum-Ex trial in Bonn, both of which sit on the 2026 domestic-politics calendar. The Berlin result also feeds into the broader EU AI Act enforcement debate where city-state regulators play a role.

FAQ

When exactly is the Berlin state election? Sunday 20 September 2026; polling stations close at 18:00 CEST with preliminary results announced the same evening.

Is the election confirmed or expected? Confirmed. The date has been set by the Berlin Senate and published in the state electoral calendar through the Landeswahlleiterin.

Who is responsible for running the election? The Landeswahlleiterin für Berlin administers the vote, with district returning officers handling polling stations across the 12 Bezirke.

Where can I read the official announcement? Wahlen-berlin.de publishes the electoral decree, candidate lists, and certified results, supplemented by the Berlin state gazette.