The 2026 Baden-Württemberg state election was held on 8 March 2026. The outgoing government was a coalition of Alliance 90/The Greens supported by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), who retired at this election.
Defying most polls leading up to the election, the Greens remained the largest party with 30.2% of the vote, only a small decline from the previous election. The CDU gained more than five percentage points and placed a narrow second on 29.7%, with both parties finishing on 56 seats. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 18.8% and 35 seats, almost doubling its previous performance. Three other parties, despite polling over the 5% electoral threshold, suffered losses. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) lost half its support and took 5.5% of the vote and 10 seats, the party's worst ever result in a state election since 1945. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) fell below 5% and for the first time lost representation in the state which is considered its stronghold.
The CDU held a lead in polling for much of the period prior to the election, but the Greens gained rapidly during the campaign, which was attributed to Özdemir's personal popularity. The party was also assisted by strategic voting from supporters of parties such as the SPD and The Left (Die Linke), the latter of which failed to clear the electoral threshold.
In absence of other realistic options, both parties declared that they would continue to cooperate. While the CDU and AfD hold a majority between them, the CDU rejects cooperation with the party (firewall policy). The Greens and CDU therefore renewed their coalition, with Özdemir becoming the first Minister-President of Turkish background.
The election was held after modifications to the state's mixed-member proportional representation system, which gave voters two votes – one for a single-member constituency and one for a party list – for the first time. The CDU significantly overperformed in the constituency component, winning 34% of the vote to the Greens' 25% and 56 of the 70 constituencies. This did not affect the relative strength of the parties; however, the large number of overhang and leveling seats awarded resulted in the Landtag expanding to 157 seats, compared to its statutory size of 120.
Election date The period of the 17th Landtag formally ended on 30 April 2026, as per Article 30, Paragraph 2 of the Baden-Württemberg Constitution, which required the election to take place before the end of the five-year term unless the Landtag was dissolved earlier. On 18 March 2025, Interior Minister Thomas Strobl announced 8 March 2026 as the provisional date for the next election, in accordance with Section 19 of the State Parliament Election Act. On the same day, municipal elections were held in Bavaria. Electoral system The Landtag of Baden-Württemberg is elected through mixed-member proportional representation. 70 members are elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting. According to a reform law passed in 2022, the remaining seats are allocated using compensatory proportional representation based on the newly introduced second vote, distributed to state-wide party lists in accordance with the Sainte-Laguë method, rather than the previous system of allocating seats to the best-performing unelected constituency candidates (which was known as a Zweitmandat, "second mandate"). This aligned Baden-Württemberg’s system with most other German states and the federal Bundestag election system. The minimum size of the Landtag is 120 seats; however, overhang and leveling seats are added to ensure proportional representation at the state level. In 2021, 154 seats were allocated due to such adjustments. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes applies. Additionally, the minimum voting age was lowered to 16 by the 2022 reform.Gesetz zur Änderung der Verfassung des Landes Baden-Württemberg und des Gesetzes über die Landtagswahlen vom 26. April 2022 (GBl. S. 237) (PDF; 202 KB)
Background
In the 2021 Baden-Württemberg state election, the Greens, led by Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann, emerged again as the strongest party, now with 32.6% of the vote, marking their best result in any state election nationwide. Their coalition partner, the CDU, achieved its worst-ever result in Baden-Württemberg, dropping to 24.1%. The CDU's leading candidates both were ministers that had not been elected to the Landtag in 2016, and did not win mandates in 2021 either. While Susanne Eisenmann retired from politics, Thomas Strobl returned as minister in the new cabinet, and won a seat only in 2026.
The SPD recorded its lowest-ever result with 11%, but became the strongest of the three opposition parties. The FDP achieved one of its best results with 10.5%. The AfD had entered the state parliament in 2016 as the strongest opposition force, but then showed internal conflicts, suffered significant losses and fell to fifth place with 9.7%. Other parties, including The Left (3.6%), Free Voters (3.0%), and others (5.5%), also participated but did not secure significant representation.
Following the election, discussions focused on either continuing the Green-CDU "Kiwi coalition" or forming a traffic-light coalition with the Greens, SPD, and FDP. On 3 April 2021, the Greens and CDU agreed to begin coalition negotiations. While some Green Party members favored a traffic-light coalition (which later in 2021 was formed on national level), Kretschmann advocated for continuing the Green-CDU coalition, which ultimately prevailed. On 12 May 2021, Kretschmann was re-elected as Minister-President with 95 votes, five fewer than the coalition's total seats, forming the third Kretschmann cabinet.
In April 2022, the state parliament amended the electoral law, moving to a conventional mixed-member proportional system with a second vote and closed lists, as well as lowering the voting age to 16. Winfried Kretschmann has announced he will not seek a fourth term in 2026. Cem Özdemir, a prominent Green politician, declared in 2024 his intention to lead the Greens in Baden-Württemberg and thus did not run in the 2025 German federal election. For the CDU, Manuel Hagel has emerged as the new leader and, according to current polls, has a strong chance of becoming Minister-President in 2026. As the AfD is rejected by all other parties ("firewall"), the CDU would likely need to continue its coalition with the Greens. The 2011 Baden-Württemberg state election took place after the Japanese Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster led to nuclear power plant shutdowns in Germany, and the outcome confirmed polls that predicted a leadership change from CDU to Greens. In the months before the 2026 election, the CDU had been leading in polls, but the Greens caught up with CDU in final polls.
Parties The table below lists the five parties that were elected to the 2021 17th Landtag. Name Ideology Leadingcandidate for 2026 2021 result Votes (%) Seats 1 Grüne Alliance 90/The Greens Green politics Thekla Walker (headed state list) Cem Özdemir (for Minister-President) 32.6% 2 CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christian democracy Manuel Hagel 24.1% 3 SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany Social democracy Andreas Stoch 11.0% 4 FDP Free Democratic Party Classical liberalism Hans-Ulrich Rülke 10.5% 5 AfD Alternative for Germany Right-wing populism Emil Sänze (headed state list) Markus Frohnmaier (for Minister-President only) 9.7%
In 2026, the lists of 21 parties were approved.
Leading candidates Cem Özdemir, first elected to the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens in 1994, and who has served as a Member of the European Parliament and Federal Minister but never as a state parliamentarian, announced on October 25, 2024, his intention to run as the Greens' lead candidate in the 2026 Baden-Württemberg state election and to become Minister-President of the state. On 24 May 2025, the state party conference selected him as the lead candidate, with place 2 on the list. The Green Party has a policy of electing only women to odd number list places, starting with Thekla Walker as number 1 on the list. In mid-May 2025, Manuel Hagel was chosen as the CDU's lead candidate for the 2026 state election, while Andreas Stoch was nominated by the SPD. AfD state leader Markus Frohnmaier led his party’s campaign for the state election as the candidate for Minister-President but is not running for a state parliament seat; Emil Sänze headed the AfD’s state list.
Debates Local public TV station SWR Fernsehen staged a debate on 24 February 2026 as a "truel" of three candidates, from the parties that poll over 20%. The wording Triell had been introduced before the 2021 German federal election.
Cem Özdemir (Greens) Cem Özdemir, the former Federal Minister of Agriculture, was elected as the Green Party’s lead candidate for the 2026 Baden-Württemberg state election with an overwhelming 97 per cent of the vote at the party’s congress in Heidenheim on 24 May 2025. The 59-year-old, born in Bad Urach to Turkish immigrant parents, positioned himself as a pragmatic and experienced politician, aiming to succeed Winfried Kretschmann, who served as Baden-Württemberg’s first Green Minister-President since 2011. Kretschmann praised Özdemir as "cut from the cloth of a minister-president", highlighting his ability to lead the state from day one with a blend of pragmatism, local rootedness, and global perspective. Özdemir’s campaign focused on addressing Baden-Württemberg’s challenges, including the economic impacts of global crises like Russia’s war on Ukraine, the effects of Donald Trump's "America First" policy, and the pressing issues of climate change and biodiversity loss. He advocated for a policy that speaks plainly, confronts reality, and engages citizens on equal terms, emphasising unity and the state’s potential to remain livable and prosperous.
Özdemir’s policy positions centre on ecological transformation as an economic opportunity, particularly for Baden-Württemberg's automotive industry, which he urged to prioritize electromobility and battery production to maintain its competitive edge. At the Unternehmertag of the UBW, he stressed the need for battery manufacturing to stay in the state, describing the car of the future as a "rolling iPhone" and supporting incentives for CO2-neutral technologies. He also criticised the complexity of existing state funding programs, calling for streamlined support to ensure their effectiveness, even expressing openness to reviewing policies from his own Green-led government. Özdemir warned against a leftward shift within the Greens, arguing that the party must remain true to its core as a "bourgeois opposition" and make the market an ally in climate protection, citing the SPD's shift toward transfer recipients as a cautionary tale that pushed workers toward the AfD. Despite his strong personal approval—39 per cent favoured him as minister-president compared to 18 per cent for CDU's Manuel Hagel—the Greens lagged behind the CDU in polls, with 20 to 23 per cent support compared to the CDU's 26 to 31 per cent. Özdemir acknowledged the challenge, pledging to campaign vigorously across the state and warning the CDU against overconfidence, while emphasising a fair and unifying campaign that avoids polarising rhetoric.
Manuel Hagel (CDU)