In these elections, voters are of course deciding in the first instance on the composition of the parliament in their federal state and determining which parties will govern that federal state. At the same time however, voters are indirectly determining who will have a seat and a say in the Bundesrat; the party that holds a majority in the federal state parliament forms the federal state government, and subsequently appoints from its ranks the Bundesrat members who will represent that federal state.
The parliament of each federal state, the Landtag, is the body that represents the people in each federal state (distinct terminology is used to describe this parliament in Berlin, where it is known as the Abgeordnetenhaus, and in Hamburg and Bremen, where it is called the Bürgerschaft). Article 28 of the Basic Law stipulates that the federal state parliaments must be elected on the basis of general, direct, free, equal and secret elections.
| Federal state | Next elections to the federal state parliaments | Frequency of elections | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhineland-Palatinate | March 22nd, 2026 | 5 years |
| Baden-Württemberg | probably spring 2026 | 5 years |
| Saxony-Anhalt | probably summer 2026 | 5 years |
| Berlin | probably autumn 2026 | 5 years |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | probably autumn 2026 | 5 years |
| Saarland | probably spring 2027 | 5 years |
| Schleswig-Holstein | probably spring 2027 | 5 years |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | probably spring 2027 | 5 years |
| Bremen | probably spring 2027 | 4 years |
| Lower Saxony | probably autumn 2027 | 5 years |
| Bavaria | probably autumn 2028 | 5 years |
| Hesse | probably autumn 2028 | 5 years |
| Brandenburg | probably autumn 2029 | 5 years |
| Saxony | probably autumn 2029 | 5 years |
| Thuringia | probably autumn 2029 | 5 years |
| Hamburg | probably spring 2030 | 5 years |
Please note: the dates of elections to the parliaments in the federal states are only published in this overview once they have been announced officially.