2026 Bavarian local elections

2026 election in Bavaria, Germany From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2026 Bavarian local elections were held on March 8, 2026 to elect members of Bavaria's 71 district councils and 25 independent city councils.

Quick facts 5,542 district council seats, Turnout ...
2026 Bavarian local elections
← 2020
8 March 2026
5,542 district council seats
Turnout6,441,918 (63.44%)
Increase 4.77%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Markus Söder Stephan Protschka Hubert Aiwanger
Party CSU AfD FW
Last election 1,938 seats, 34.47% 262 seats, 4.75% 694 seats, 11.90%
Seats won 1,817 711 711
Seat change Decrease 121 Increase 449 Increase 17
Popular vote 2,030,112 763,040 755,086
Percentage 32.54% 12.23% 12.10%
Swing Decrease 1.93% Increase 7.48% Increase 0.20%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Gisela Sengl &
Eva Lettenbauer		 Ronja Endres &
Sebastian Roloff		 None
Party Greens SPD Local voters' associations
Last election 880 seats, 17.46% 738 seats, 13.68% 560 seats, 8.66%
Seats won 666 665 520
Seat change Decrease 214 Decrease 73 Decrease 40
Popular vote 848,443 764,799 512,601
Percentage 13.60% 12.26% 8.22%
Swing Decrease 3.86% Decrease 1.42% Decrease 0.44%
  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Leader Sarah Vollath &
Martin Bauhof		 Agnes Becker &
Tobias Ruff		 Michael Ruoff
Party Linke ÖDP FDP
Last election 77 seats, 1.66% 187 seats, 3.42% 161 seats, 2.94%
Seats won 164 131 113
Seat change Increase 87 Decrease56 Decrease 48
Popular vote 213,484 145,438 129,778
Percentage 3.42% 2.33% 2.08%
Swing Increase 1.76% Decrease 1.09% Decrease 0.86%
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Results

The historically dominant Christian Social Union (CSU) placed first, albeit with a reduction in seats and vote share. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) placed second with more than double the votes and seats they received in the 2020 election. The Greens experienced the largest decline of any party, losing over 200 seats.[1]

A number of small parties also won seats. Volt won a number of seats, largely concentrated in urban areas including Munich, Nuremberg, and Bamberg. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), participated for the first time since its founding in 2024, winning two seats; one in Coburg and one in Kaufbeuren.[2][3] Small conservative parties The Republicans and the Bavaria Party both lost seats, and were mostly successful in rural regions.[1]

More information Party, Votes ...
Summary of results for the 2026 Bavarian local elections
Party Votes % +/- Seats +/-
Christian Social Union (CSU) 2,030,112 32.54 Decrease1.93 1,817 Decrease121
Alternative for Germany (AfD) 763,040 12.23 Increase7.48 711 Increase449
Free Voters (FW) 755,086 12.10 Increase0.20 711 Increase17
The Greens (Grüne) 848,443 13.60 Decrease3.86 666 Decrease214
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 764,799 12.26 Decrease1.42 665 Decrease73
Local voters' associations 512,601 8.22 Decrease0.44 520 Decrease40
Die Linke 213,484 3.42 Increase1.76 164 Increase87
Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) 145,438 2.33 Decrease1.09 131 Decrease56
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 129,778 2.08 Decrease0.86 113 Decrease48
Bavaria Party (BP) 17,549 0.28 Decrease0.23 15 Decrease14
Die PARTEI 6,590 0.11 Decrease0.13 2 Decrease4
Other parties[a] 52,637 0.84 Increase0.52 27 Increase17
Total 6,239,557 5,542
Invalid votes 202,361
Voter turnout 6,441,918 63.44 Increase3.44
Eligible voters 10,153,961
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  1. [a]
    Including Volt, Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, Pirate Party and The Republicans

Mayoral results

Lord Mayors were also elected in the 25 county-free (kreisfreie) cities. If no candidate received over 50% of the vote, a run-off election between the two leading candidates took place on March 22. Below are the results for the four largest cities in Bavaria.

Munich

More information Party, Candidate ...
2026 Munich mayoral election[4]
Party Candidate Votes (First round) % Votes (Second round) % +/-
The Greens Dominik Krause 168,010 29.5 272,533 56.4 Increase 26.9
Social Democratic Party (SPD) Dieter Reiter 203,113 35.6 211,075 43.6 Increase 8.0
Christian Social Union (CSU) Clemens Baumgärtner 121,713 21.3
Alternative for Germany (AfD) Markus Walbrunn 25,046 4.4
Die Linke Stefan Jagel 13,770 2.4
Free Voters (FW) Michael Piazolo 10,624 1.9
Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) Tobias Ruff 7,882 1.4
Free Democratic Party (FDP) Jörg Hoffmann 6,983 1.2
Volt Felix Sproll 6,117 1.1
Culture Alliance Christiane Pfau 2,002 0.4
Die PARTEI Philipp Drabinski 1,980 0.3
Munich List Dirk Höpner 1,703 0.3
Bavaria Party Richard Progl 1,285 0.2
Total 570,228 99.6 483,608 99.5 Decrease 0.1
Invalid votes 2,472 0.4 2,615 0.5 Increase 0.1
Voter turnout 572,700 52.3 486,223 44.5 Decrease 7.8
Eligible voters 1,094,793 1,092,531
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Nuremberg

More information Party, Candidate ...
2026 Nuremberg mayoral election[5]
Party Candidate Votes (First round) % Votes (Second round) % +/-
Christian Social Union (CSU) Marcus König 88,889 46.0 85,751 55.5 Increase 9.5
Social Democratic Party (SPD) Nasser Ahmed 51,198 26.5 68,822 44.5 Increase 18.0
The Greens Britta Walthelm 20,065 10.4
Alternative for Germany (AfD) Roland-Alexander Hübscher 17,551 9.1
Die Linke Titus Schüller 7,083 3.7
Free Voters (FW) Thomas Estrada 4,849 2.5
Left List Nuremberg Marion Padua 1,501 0.8
Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) Jan Gehrke 1,197 0.6
Die Guten Christiane Schleindl 938 0.5
Total 193,271 99.5 154.573 99.5 Steady
Invalid votes 1,068 0.5 750 0.5 Steady
Voter turnout 193,271 51.2 155,323 41.1 Decrease 10.1
Eligible voters 379,322 378,289
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Augsburg

More information Party, Candidate ...
2026 Augsburg mayoral election[6]
Party Candidate Votes (First round) % Votes (Second round) % +/-
Social Democratic Party (SPD) Florian Freund 21,834 19.9 44,077 56.6 Increase 36.7
Christian Social Union (CSU) Eva Weber 37,212 34.0 33,823 43.4 Increase 9.4
The Greens Martina Wild 17,937 16.4
Alternative for Germany (AfD) Andreas Jurca 13,639 12.4
Free Voters (FW) Hannes Aigner 7,197 6.6
Die Linke Elisabeth Wiesholler 5,521 5.0
Augsburg in Bürgerhand Bruno Marcon 2,112 1.9
Die PARTEI Lisa McQueen 1,876 1.7
V-Partei3 Roland Wegner 619 0.6
Total 109,569 99.5 77,900 99.3 Decrease 0.2
Invalid votes 587 0.5 520 0.7 Increase 0.2
Voter turnout 110,156 51.8 78,420 37.0 Decrease 14.8
Eligible voters 212,515 212,027
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Regensburg

More information Party, Candidate ...
2026 Regensburg mayoral election[7]
Party Candidate Votes (First round) % Votes (Second round) % +/-
Social Democratic Party (SPD) Thomas Burger 12,774 19.1 28,629 53.2 Increase 34.1
Christian Social Union (CSU) Astrid Freudenstein 25,068 37.5 25,138 46.8 Increase 9.4
The Greens Helene Sigloch 12,637 18.9
Bridge Thomas Thurow 4,300 6.4
Free Voters (FW) Michael Schien 3,551 5.3
Die Linke Sebastian Wanner 2,560 3.8
Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) Benedikt Suttner 1,691 2.5
Free Democratic Party Horst Meierhofer 1,232 1.8
Volt Lisa Brenner 1,187 1.8
Christian Social Citizens in Regensburg Christian Janele 794 1.2
Die PARTEI Ingo Frank 545 0.8
Ribisl Party Jakob Friedl 536 0.8
Total 66,875 98.9 53,767 99.6 Increase 0.7
Invalid votes 717 1.1 189 0.4 Decrease 0.7
Voter turnout 67,592 57.7 53,956 46.2 Decrease 11.5
Eligible voters 117,094 116,778
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References

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