Data Files

All datasets are available in CSV and RDS formats. Harmonized datasets map historical results onto consistent boundaries to enable longitudinal analysis.

Local Elections

Data Geographic Level Time Period Harmonization File Name Download Link
Local Elections Municipality 1984–2026 No municipal_unharm CSV (12 MB) RDS
Local Elections Municipality 1990–2026 Yes (2021) municipal_harm CSV (9 MB) RDS

The unharmonized file also carries council seats (seats_* columns) for the states and years where seat data is available; see the usage notes. Seats are on the unharmonized file only — a population-weighted sum of seats across merged municipalities is not a real council, so the harmonized files omit them.

State Elections

Data Geographic Level Time Period Harmonization File Name Download Link
State Elections Municipality 1946–2026 No state_unharm CSV RDS
State Elections Municipality 1990–2026 Yes (2021) state_harm_21 CSV RDS
State Elections Municipality 1990–2026 Yes (2023) state_harm_23 CSV RDS
State Elections Municipality 1990–2026 Yes (2025) state_harm_25 CSV RDS
State Elections Constituency (Wahlkreis) 1990–2026 No ltw_wkr_unharm CSV RDS
State Elections Constituency (Wahlkreis) 1990–2026 No ltw_wkr_unharm_long CSV RDS

Federal Elections

Data Geographic Level Time Period Harmonization File Name Download Link
Federal Elections Municipality 1980–2025 No federal_muni_raw CSV (43 MB) RDS
Federal Elections Municipality 1980–2025 No federal_muni_unharm CSV (83 MB) RDS
Federal Elections Municipality 1990–2025 Yes (2021) federal_muni_harm_21 CSV (58 MB) RDS
Federal Elections Municipality 1990–2025 Yes (2025) federal_muni_harm_25 CSV (57 MB) RDS
Federal Elections County 1953–2025 No federal_cty_unharm CSV (4 MB) RDS
Federal Elections County 1990–2025 Yes (2021) federal_cty_harm CSV (2 MB) RDS
Federal Elections Constituency (Wahlkreis) 2002–2025 No federal_wkr_unharm CSV (2 MB) RDS
Federal Elections Constituency (Wahlkreis) 2002–2025 No federal_wkr_unharm_long CSV (11 MB) RDS
Federal Elections Constituency (Wahlkreis) 2021 on 2025 boundaries Yes (2025) federal_wkr_2021_on_2025 CSV (0.3 MB) RDS
Federal Elections Constituency (Wahlkreis) 2021 → 2025 Crosswalk wkr_2021_to_2025_crosswalk CSV (0.02 MB) RDS

Related external datasets extending federal coverage beyond GERDA:

European Elections

Data Geographic Level Time Period Harmonization File Name Download Link
European Elections Municipality 2009–2024 No european_muni_unharm CSV RDS
European Elections Municipality 2009–2024 Yes (2021) european_muni_harm CSV RDS

Mayoral Elections

Data Geographic Level Time Period Harmonization File Name Download Link
Mayoral Elections Municipality 1945–2026 No mayoral_unharm CSV RDS
Mayoral Elections Municipality 1945–2026 Yes (2021) mayoral_harm CSV RDS
Mayoral Candidates Municipality 1945–2026 — mayoral_candidates CSV RDS
Mayor Panel Municipality 1945–2026 No mayor_panel CSV RDS
Mayor Panel (annual) Municipality 1945–2026 No mayor_panel_annual CSV RDS
Mayor Panel Municipality 1945–2026 Yes (2021) mayor_panel_harm CSV RDS
Mayor Panel (annual) Municipality 1945–2026 Yes (2021) mayor_panel_annual_harm CSV RDS

Coverage: 13 states — Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Brandenburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thüringen (mayors of municipalities only — head-of-county [Landrat] elections are now in their own dataset, see below). Candidate-level data includes predicted gender and name-based migration background classification.

Landrat Elections

Direct-election results for heads of German Landkreise (rural counties) and equivalent administrative regions (Städteregion Aachen, Regionalverband Saarbrücken). Companion to the mayoral dataset; same schema, but covers county-level units (8-digit AGS ending in 000).

Data Geographic Level Time Period Harmonization File Name Download Link
Landrat Elections County 1945–2026 No landrat_unharm CSV RDS
Landrat Candidates County 1945–2026 — landrat_candidates CSV RDS

Coverage by state: Bayern (1945–2026, 71 Kreise), Hessen (1993–2024, 21 Kreise), Rheinland-Pfalz (1995–2025), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (2000–2025), Sachsen (2002–2025), Niedersachsen (2006–2021), Thüringen (2006–2024), Sachsen-Anhalt (2007–2026), NRW (2009–2025, 31 Kreise + Städteregion Aachen), Saarland (2011–2024, Regionalverband Saarbrücken + 5 Landkreise), Brandenburg (2018–2026). 2,127 election rounds / 5,273 candidate rows across 11 states. Baden-Württemberg and Schleswig-Holstein are not included because their Landräte are elected by the Kreistag rather than by popular vote.

County Elections (Kreistagswahlen)

Data Geographic Level Time Period Harmonization File Name Download Link
County Elections Municipality & County 1948–2026 No county_elec_unharm CSV RDS
County Elections County 1990–2026 Yes (2021) county_elec_harm_21_cty CSV RDS
County Elections Municipality 1991–2026 Yes (2021) county_elec_harm_21_muni CSV RDS
County Council Seats County 2008–2025 Fixed 2021 boundaries county_council_seats CSV (1.4 MB) RDS

county_council_seats is a yearly county-council composition panel (400 counties × 2008–2025), not an election table — each council’s seat distribution is carried forward every year until the next election changes it. Party seat columns sum to seats_total (a residual seats_other absorbs the rest). Municipal council seats are carried inside municipal_unharm itself as seats_* columns (see the Local Elections note).

Additional Files

Data Geographic Level Time Period Harmonization File Name Download Link
Crosswalks Municipality 1990–2021 — ags_crosswalks CSV (27 MB) RDS
Crosswalks Municipality 1990–2025 — ags_1990_2025_crosswalk CSV (28 MB) RDS
Crosswalks County 1990–2021 — cty_crosswalks CSV (1 MB) RDS
Shapefiles Municipality/County 2000, 2021 — VG250_GEM / VG250_KRS 2000 2021
Covariates Municipality 1990–2023 Yes ags_area_pop_emp CSV RDS
Covariates County 1990–2023 Yes cty_area_pop_emp CSV RDS