Overview
- Omid Nouripour put the proposal forward on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, calling for a political calendar that limits overlapping campaigns.
- His concrete plan would hold Bundestag and municipal elections on one shared date and all state (Landtag) elections on a separate midterm date.
- To make the schedule work he proposes extending the Bundestag’s and Bremen’s current four-year terms to five years, noting 15 other states already use five-year terms.
- Nouripour warned that an Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) government in Saxony-Anhalt could pressure democratic institutions and said the right response is practical solutions not panic ahead of the Sept. 6 state vote.
- The idea faces legal and political hurdles because it would require constitutional or legislative changes and agreement between the federal government and the Länder, and some parties have previously rejected similar proposals.