Upon the proposal of the Federal Chancellor of 1 July 2005, the Federal President had decided on 21 July to dissolve the 15th German Bundestag in accordance with Article 68 of the Basic Constitutional Law of the Federal Republic of Germany [Order on Dissolution of the German Bundestag in its Fifteenth Legislative Term of 21 July 2005 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 2169)].
According to the Order of the Federal President on the 2005 Bundestag Elections of 21 July 2005 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 2170), the elections to the 16th German Bundestag, the fifth all-German elections, were held on Sunday, 18 September 2005.
