German Christian Democrats win by-election in Dresden

The Christian Democrats (CDU) of Angela Merkel have won the by-election in Dresden and gained one additional overhang seat in the Bundestag. A by-election or bye-election is a special election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between general elections.

The CDU candidate Andreas Lämmel received 37.0% of the first votes, his Social Democratic contender Marlies Volkmer won 32.1% and the candidate of The Left, Katja Kipping, earned 19.2%.

The SPD performed better at the second election, winning 27.9%, followed by the CDU with 24.4%, the Left with 19.7%, the Free Democrats with 16.6%, and the Greens with 7.1%.

The CDU had actually urged supporters not to vote for them with their second vote because of a bug in Germany's voting system too many votes would have caused them to lose a seat.

Nevertheless, the by-election caused the shifting of one seat to another state. Cajus Julius Caesar (sic!), of the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia lost his seat to Anette Hübinger, also of the CDU but from the Saarland.

The complete result of the 2005 German federal election can be seen here.