JPM
German election
How a new government is formed
The process of forming a new government can be divided into a few distinct phases. First, in the days after the election, the parties elect new parliamentary leaders, who manage their efforts in the Bundestag. Second, after this, the largest party, currently the CDU/CSU, invites potential coalition partners for exploratory talks to establish whether there is scope for cooperation. Third, official coalition talks commence after party leaderships have decided, which coalition to pursue. Fourth, once a coalition treaty is signed (some parties may need to put this to a vote of party members). Fifth, the Chancellor is elected by the Bundestag once the coalition treaty has been fully accepted by all parties. At this point, the Cabinet is also announced. Sixth, at the end of the process, the new government makes a policy declaration to the Bundestag. Aside from this entire process, it is worth noting that the new Bundestag will need to have a first meeting by 24 October, but that the current CDU/CSU-SPD coalition government will remain in place until the new Chancellor is elected.
There is no set time period for each of these phases. The first phase of electing parliamentary leaders has been partially completed although there is still some speculation of broader leadership changes; for example, in the CSU. The second phase of exploratory talks has yet to start, but the state election in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) on 15 October is already set to slow this down as parties are reluctant to reveal policy areas they are willing to compromise on in a coalition. Otherwise, parties would be watering down their policy platforms ahead of the state election. The CSU’s party conference in mid-November may also slow some aspects of the formal talks.
After the state election, the phase of exploratory talks may potentially be quite short, given that there is only one viable coalition at this point (ie, a Jamaica coalition), following the SPD’s decision to go into opposition. In 2013, it took 31 days to get to this stage (see table), but that was partly because the CDU/CSU was holding exploratory talks with both the SPD and the Greens. After this, in 2013, coalition talks took another 35 days, followed by a 20-day period in which the SPD conducted a vote among party members on the coalition’s 134-page polity treaty. The FDP and Greens have both already said that they would want to do the same. Overall, it took 86 days after the last election for the Chancellor and cabinet to be elected.
Talks to form a three-way coalition between the CDU/CSU, the FDP and the Greens are likely to be very difficult. One complicating factor is the increasing disagreement between the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, which means that in reality a four-way coalition will need to be formed. Our expectation is that this will be successful in the end, but that it may not conclude before the end of this year. If it fails, then the SPD may come back into the picture as a way of avoiding new elections, further prolonging the process.