In the
2003 Bavaria state election, the FW association received 4.0% of the vote (411,306 votes), barely missing the 5% threshold required to enter the state Landtag. In the
2008 Bavaria state election, the FW association received 10.2% of the vote and gained their first 20 seats in the
Landtag of Bavaria. FW may have been helped by the presence in its list of
Gabriele Pauli, a former member of the
Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). The party also reached its best performance yet in raw votes, receiving 1,085,896 votes. In the
2009 federal election, the Free Voters received 0.03% of the national vote (11,243 votes in total). In the
2013 Bavarian state election, the Free Voters repeated their success, gaining 19 seats albeit at 9.0% of the vote. In the
2013 federal election, the Free Voters received 1.0% of the national vote (423,977 votes in total). In the
2014 European parliament elections in Germany, the Free Voters list received 1.46% of the national vote and returned a single
MEP,
Ulrike Müller, who sits with the
ALDE Group. The federal Free Voters association joined the
European Democratic Party in October 2015. In June 2017,
Arne Gericke, who sits with European Parliament's
European Conservatives and Reformists group and was elected in 2014 on the
Family Party of Germany list, joined the federal association. Gericke left it 15 months afterward for
Alliance C – Christians for Germany. In the
2017 federal election, the Free Voters received 1.0% of the national vote (463,292 votes in total). In the
2018 Bavarian state election, the Free Voters won a record 27 seats with 11.6% of the vote, entering into a
coalition government as junior partner to the CSU, forming the first
black–orange coalition. Following the
2019 European Parliament election in Germany, the Free Voters sit in the
Renew Europe group in the
European Parliament with two MEPs. In the
European Committee of the Regions, the Free Voters sit in the
Renew Europe CoR group with one alternate member for the 2025–2030 mandate. In the
2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election, the Free Voters entered the
Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate for the first time, amassing 5.4% of the vote and six seats. In the
2021 federal election, the Free Voters received 2.4% of the national vote (1,125,667 votes in total), winning roughly half of those votes from the state of
Bavaria, where it received 7.5% (566,880 votes) of the vote and came 5th. The Free Voters hence became the most voted for party that failed to receive Bundestag seats. In the
2023 Bavarian state election, the Free Voters remained the second largest party and continued its coalition with the CSU, increasing its vote share to 15.8% of the vote and 37 seats. In the
2024 European Parliament election in Germany, the Free Voters won 2.7% of the vote and three seats, electing
Christine Singer,
Joachim Streit and
Engin Eroglu to the European Parliament. In the
2024 Saxony state election, the Free Voters entered the
Landtag of Saxony for the first time. Despite failing to reach the 5% threshold with only 2.3% of the vote, the party won a direct mandate in the Leipzig Land III constituency, electing
Matthias Berger to the Landtag. In the
2025 federal election, the Free Voters would fall to 1.55% of the vote, failing to clear 5% in Bavaria. In the
2026 Rhineland-Palatinate state election, the Free Voters failed to reach the
5% threshold and lost all their seats in the
Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. == Ideology, platform and policies ==