Aftermath of the German Election

Usually, the projections on the evening of election day don’t differ much from the official results released the next morning. This time, however, it remained unclear well into the night whether the BSW (see table below for explanation of party names and identities) would make it into the Bundestag (German federal parliament). Only parties with five percent or more of the vote can enter parliament. If a party falls just short, the other qualifying parties receive a greater share of seats—making the success or failure of smaller parties critical to forming coalitions.