Germany
Federal Elections, 26 September 2021
Floods, 14–15 July 2021
During the summer of 2021, extreme rainfall in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and other neighbouring countries led to severe flooding. The German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were particularly affected, with over 200 fatalities and more than 150 people missing (Deutsche Welle n.d.; Niranjan 2021; Schmidt et al. 2021). The effects of the heavy rainfall were exacerbated by three weeks of warm and wet weather that had left the soil in both states very saturated – the ground was unable to absorb the rapid rainfall, causing flooding (Niranjan 2021). There was substantial damage to houses, roads, communication infrastructure, motorways, railway lines and bridges. Damage was estimated at €4.5–€5.5 billion (IPCC 2022). Many in the region were not warned early enough by the authorities, leaving little time to evacuate (Niranjan 2021).
Impact on the electoral process
Many voters in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were displaced following the floods, either staying with relatives or friends, or housed in emergency accommodation. Those who had not returned to their permanent places of residence by election day on 26 September could nevertheless vote in their usual home districts by means of a postal vote (unless they had registered their new place of residence). They could apply to do so in writing, in person, or via email (Bundeswahlleiter 2021a). On election day, it was expected that most of the usual polling stations would be available for in-person voting; otherwise, the municipality had the option to offer alternative polling facilities in tents, stationary buses or containers (North Rhine-Westphalia 2021).
The voter turnout rate nationally for the 2021 federal election was 76.6 per cent (Bundeswahlleiter 2021b), and 76.2 per cent in the last federal election in 2017 (Bundeswahlleiter 2017a). At the time of the election, the Germany was also dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic (International IDEA 2020).
The turnout in Rhineland-Palatinate was 77.2 per cent (in 2017 – 77.7 per cent) and in North Rhine-Westphalia, 76.4 per cent (in 2017 – 75.4 per cent) (Bundeswahlleiter 2021c; 2017b; 2021d; 2017c).
Bibliography
Bundeswahlleiter, Der (The Federal Returning Officer), ‘Bundestag election 2017’, 2017a, < https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2017/ergebnisse/bund-99.html >, accessed 30 September 2025
—, ‘Bundestag election 2017’ (North Rhine-Westphalia), 2017b, < https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2017/ergebnisse/bund-99/land-5.html >, accessed 23 August 2022
—, ‘Bundestag election 2017’ (Rhineland-Palatinate), 2017c, < https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2017/ergebnisse/bund-99/land-7.html >, accessed 23 August 2022
—, ‘2021 Bundestag Election: persons entitled to vote who lost their accommodation during the flood disaster of 14 and 15 July 2021’, Press release no. 32/21, 31 August 2021a, < https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/info/presse/mitteilungen/bundestagswahl-2021/32_21_flutkatastrophe-briefwahl.html >, accessed 30 September 2025
—, ‘Bundestag election 2021’, 2021b, < https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2021/ergebnisse/bund-99.html >, accessed 30 September 2025
—, ‘Bundestag election 2021’ (Rhineland-Palatinate), 2021c, < https://bundeswahlleiterin.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2021/ergebnisse/bund-99/land-7.html >, accessed 3 October 2025
—, ‘Bundestag election 2021’ (North Rhine-Westphalia), 2021d, < https://bundeswahlleiterin.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2021/ergebnisse/bund-99/land-5.html >, accessed 3 October 2025
Deutsche Welle, ‘Floods in Germany’, [n.d.], < https://www.dw.com/en/floods-in-germany/t-58300604 >, accessed 30 September 2025
International IDEA, Asplund, E. (editor), ‘Global overview of Covid-19: Impact on elections’, 18 March 2020 (and updated), < https://www.idea.int/news-media/multimedia-reports/global-overview-covid-19-impact-elections>, accessed 30 September 2025
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge and New York: CUP, 2022), <https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-ii/>, accessed 30 September 2025
Niranjan, A., ‘German floods: Climate change made heavy rains in Europe more likely’, Deutsche Welle, 24 August 2021, <https://www.dw.com/en/german-floods-climate-change/a-58959677>, accessed 30 September 2025
North Rhine-Westphalia, Ministry of Interior of, ‘Landeswahlleiter Schellen: „Bundestagswahl wird auch in den vom Hochwasser stark betroffenen Regionen in Nordrhein-Westfalen ordnungsgemäß und rechtssicher durchgeführt“’ [Land Returning Officer Schellen: "Bundestag elections will also be conducted in an orderly and legally secure manner in the regions of North Rhine-Westphalia that have been severely affected by the floods"], 20 August 2021, <https://www.im.nrw/landeswahlleiter-schellen-bundestagswahl-wird-auch-den-vom-hochwasser-stark-betroffenen-regionen>, accessed 30 September 2025
Schmidt, N., Pleitgen, F., Wojazer, B. and Ravindran, J., ‘More than 150 people still missing in German floods unlikely to be found, officials fear’, CNN World, 22 July 2021,
<https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/22/europe/germany-belgium-europe-floods-death-climate-intl/index.html>, accessed 30 September 2025
Floods
