2026 Hessian local elections

All Germans and European Union citizens who have reached the age of 18 and have resided in their municipality for at least six weeks were eligible to vote. Homeless people were also able to vote for the first time with the establishment of a registration process for people with no fixed address.^[1] In March 2025, The Greens proposed a bill in the Landtag of Hesse to lower the voting age in the state's municipal elections from 18 to 16, as is the case in the majority of German states. The bill was defeated in September 2025, with the CDU, AfD, and SPD voting against, and The Greens and FDP voting in favour.^[2]

Prior to the elections, the CDU and SPD grand coalition in the Landtag of Hesse passed legislation to change the seat allocation method for municipal elections from the Hare/Niemayer method to the D'Hondt method; in order to reduce the fragmentation of district councils among many smaller parties. This change was successfully challenged in court by the Free Democratic Party, Die PARTEI, and the Hessian Klimaliste; meaning that the Hare/Niemayer method remained in use for this election.^[3]

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) placed first, as it did in the previous elections in 2021. It also became the strongest party in Frankfurt, overtaking The Greens. Similarly, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) again placed second, although it lost approximately 10% of its seats. The Greens experienced the most significant losses of any parties, losing 78 seats; although it remained the strongest party in the cities of Darmstadt and Kassel. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) had the strongest gains of any party, although it did not become the strongest party in any municipality.^[4]

Over a dozen small parties also contested the elections with varying results. Volt more than doubled its share of the vote and seats. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) participated for the first time since its formation in 2024, winning 14 seats. Other parties winning seats for the first time include Team Todenhöfer, the Human Environment Animal Protection Party, and the Grassroots Democratic Party. Meanwhile, several smaller parties lost all their seats, including The Homeland, Alliance C – Christians for Germany, and the Pirate Party.^[5]

Summary of results for the 2026 Hessian local elections^[6]

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	736,413	29.8	1.3	579	35
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	512,824	20.8	3.2	428	48
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	364,480	14.8	7.9	294	162
	The Greens (Grüne)	344,951	14.0	4.4	265	78
	Die Linke	139,922	5.7	1.7	112	35
	Local voters' associations	101,611	4.1	1.8	82	3
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	97,512	3.9	2.8	77	46
	Free Voters (FW)	70,586	2.9	0.4	62	4
	Volt	48,549	2.0	1.2	37	23
	Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW)	19,756	0.8	New	14	New
	Die PARTEI	12,984	0.5	0.4	10	9
	Human Environment Animal Protection Party (Tierschutzpartei)	10,232	0.4	New	9	New
	Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG)	2,258	0.1		2	1
	Team Todenhöfer	2,045	0.1	New	4	New
	Ecological Left	1,770	0.0		1	1
	PRO AUTO	1,267	0.0		1
	MERA25	1,021	0.0	New	0	New
	The Homeland	755	0.0	0.1	0	2
	Alliance C – Christians for Germany	605	0.0		0	1
	Grassroots Democratic Party (dieBasis)	412	0.0		1	1
	Pirate Party	147	0.0	0.2	0	4
	Party of Humanists	95	0.0	New	0	New
Total		2,470,262	96.4	0.4	1,979	59
Invalid votes		93,336	3.6	0.4
Voter turnout		2,563,598	54.3	3.9
Eligible voters		4,717,136