State election campaigns in Germany: communication for Landtag candidates

Every state has its own calendar

Each German state elects its parliament on its own date; in Berlin the parliament is called the Abgeordnetenhaus, in Hamburg and Bremen the Bürgerschaft. Dates already fixed: Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein on 18 April 2027, North Rhine-Westphalia on 25 April 2027, Bremen on 30 May 2027 and Lower Saxony on 26 September 2027. Bavaria and Hesse are expected to vote in autumn 2028; those dates have not yet been set. Every campaign schedule is built backwards from the date the state announces. Constituency candidates and list positions are chosen in the parties’ internal procedures, and those dates go into the schedule with the candidate’s party.

What a constituency candidate needs

A constituency candidate has to become known across an area that often spans several towns or districts. Voters usually look the candidate up online first: who they are, what they work on and where to meet them. That is why the campaign centres on a German website on the candidate’s own domain, with social media, print and event filming all pointing to it.

What we prepare

• German candidate website: story, policy themes, events, contact form, plus Impressum and privacy pages; the form runs on the candidate’s own domain without third-party services.
• Portraits and a short film: portrait sets for posters, leaflets and the website; a short German introduction film with social cut-downs.
• Social media: weekly plan, field posts, event announcements and short videos.
• Print: leaflets, posters and cards within the party’s design rules.
• Search: Google Search Console and Bing registration, sitemap and structured data.

Real project: Salih Tufan Ünal, North Rhine-Westphalia

Salih Tufan Ünal, an SPD member of Krefeld city council, is standing for the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament for Krefeld and Tönisvorst. We built his scroll-driven, single-page German website with his story, four policy themes, an “Unterwegs” section that summarises his field posts on Instagram and a contact form on his own domain. It went live at salihtufanunal.de on 21 October 2026. See the project page. We take the same approach for candidates in other states.

Filming in Germany, production in Gebze

We plan filming and meeting days in Germany in blocks. Design, editing, websites and social media are handled by the same team in Gebze. German copy is written by German-speaking team members and approved by the candidate’s team; Turkish versions and subtitles can be added on request.

Approval, rules and neutrality

Every visual, film, post and page is approved by the candidate or campaign team before it goes live. Party design guidelines are followed where they exist; compliance with election law and data protection (GDPR) is checked by the candidate’s team and legal adviser. We do not give legal advice; we provide a commercial service to the candidate who hires us and express no political views.