The frontrunners for the Bundestag elections
Who have the parties nominated to run for election - we present the top candidates of the major parties.
Five parties have nominated a candidate to run for chancellor in the Bundestag elections on 23 February 2025. This is more than ever before, as in the past only those parties that actually had a chance of winning the election would nominate a “candidate for chancellor”. We present the frontrunners in the order in which their parties were established.
The SPD’s candidate: Olaf Scholz
The incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz is running on behalf of the SPD. As is normally the case in Germany, the SPD nominated its candidate at a party conference convened especially for the purpose. Olaf Scholz was born in Osnabrück in 1958, grew up in Hamburg and is a lawyer by profession. He has been a member of the SPD since 1975. Scholz has been the mayor of Hamburg, a member of the Bundestag and finance minister under the previous Chancellor Angela Merkel. Scholz is seen as belonging more to the conservative wing of the party. According to the polls, his chances of becoming chancellor again are not good.
Running for the CDU/CSU: Friedrich Merz
Friedrich Merz, a lawyer born in Brilon in the state of Sauerland in 1955, is running for the union of CDU and CSU. He has belonged to the CDU since 1972 and chaired the CDU/CSU parliamentary group since 2022, making him the leader of the opposition. Merz had been a member of the Bundestag from 1994 until 2009, when he stopped running for election following disagreements with Angela Merkel. In 2021, when Merkel chose not to run for reelection, he was elected to the Bundestag once again. Merz is regarded as an economic liberal and a conservative when it comes to social policy. In the polls he has the best chance of becoming the new chancellor.
The top candidate for the FDP: Christian Lindner
Ex-finance minister Christian Lindner is running as candidate for chancellor for the FDP. Lindner was born in Wuppertal in 1979 and already joined the FDP at the age of 16. A political scientist and reserve officer, he was a member of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament and has been a member of the Bundestag on and off since 2009. In Chancellor Scholz’s government he held the post of finance minister before his dismissal sparked the new elections on 23 February. Lindner is seen as an economic liberal. According to polls, however, his party may not make it into the Bundestag on account of the five-percent hurdle.
Hoping to govern on behalf of the Greens: Robert Habeck
Economics Minister Robert Habeck is the chancellor candidate for Alliance 90/The Greens. Born in Lübeck in 1969, Habeck has a PhD in German studies and joined the Greens in 2002. He later became a minister and deputy premier of the Schleswig-Holstein state government. In the current government he holds the position of vice chancellor. Within his party, Habeck is regarded as a rather pragmatic champion of an ecological shift in business and society. His prospects of becoming chancellor are low, according to recent polls.
The Left is putting forward two candidates: Jan van Aken and Heidi Reichinnek
Jan van Aken and Heidi Reichinnek are the top candidates jointly running on behalf of the Left Party. Van Aken (born in Hamburg in 1961) has a PhD in biology and worked for the UN as a biological weapons inspector. Van Aken joined the Left Party in 2007 and was a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2017. Reichinnek (born in Merseburg in Saxony-Anhalt in 1988) joined the party in 2015 and has been a member of the Bundestag since 2021. The Left takes an anti-fascist and socialist stance. Its prospects of being reelected to the Bundestag are based on the hope that a number of its members will win seats directly. Polls put the party at around the five-percent threshold.
Nominated by the AfD: Alice Weidel
The AfD has chosen its party chair Alice Weidel as its chancellor candidate. She is the first person to run for chancellor on behalf of the AfD, a party with certain chapters that have been classified as right-wing extremist by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Weidel was born in Gütersloh in 1979. The holder of a doctorate in economics, she lived in Japan and China for a long time. She joined the AfD in 2013. Weidel and the AfD have no chance of forming a government because all the other parties refuse to enter into a coalition with it.
Chancellor candidate for the BSW: Sahra Wagenknecht
Sahra Wagenknecht is running as chancellor candidate for a party that is named after her. The Sahra Wagenkecht Alliance. Wagenknecht, who was born in Jena in 1969, established the BSW in January 2024, primarily together with former Left Party members. Previously she was a leading member of the Left and its predecessor organisations. She became a member of the European Parliament in 2004 and has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009. An economist with a PhD, she embraces left-wing and national positions. According to polls, the BSW could just scrape into the Bundestag.
