Do election campaigns and elections now always take place in winter?

Election campaign in the summer, election day in the fall – this is how federal elections have been going for three decades. This routine will now be broken with the election expected to be brought forward to February 23rd next year. Is the new unwritten rule for the foreseeable future: election campaign with mulled wine, election day in the slush?

That doesn’t have to be the case. According to Article 39 of the Basic Law, an electoral period begins with the first meeting of the newly elected Bundestag. The new election will take place no earlier than 46 and no later than 48 months after the start of the electoral period. This means that the federal election can be moved forward by a few weeks every four years.

But it also goes in the other direction. Article 39 also stipulates that the Bundestag meets no later than the 30th day after the election. This was last the case in 2021: The Bundestag was elected on September 26th and met for its constituent session on October 26th.

The next election date, which is now history, was set for September 28, 2025. Legally, October 26th – also a Sunday – would have been the last possible date.

The campaign managers and organizers found themselves in the same situation as now after the break of the social-liberal coalition in 1982. At that time, the Bundestag was re-elected on March 6, 1983. Four years later the election date was January 25th, and another four years later December 2nd. And in the 1994 federal election, October 16th was back to the autumn rhythm.

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