German federal election, 1990

German federal election, 1990

2 December 1990

All 662 seats in the Bundestag 332 seats were needed for a majority Turnout 77.8% (voting eligible)[1]   First party Second party Third party   Leader Helmut Kohl Oskar Lafontaine Otto Graf Lambsdorff Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Leader since 1973 – 1988 Last election 234 seats 193 seats 48 seats Seats won 319 239 79 Seat change 85 46 31 Popular vote 20,358,096 15,545,366 5,123,233 Percentage 43.8% 33.5% 11.0% Swing 0.4% 3.5% 1.9%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Petra Kelly Gregor Gysi Party Green PDS Leader since – 1990 Last election 28 seats new party Seats won 8 17 Seat change 20 17 Popular vote 2,347,407 1,129,578 Percentage 5.0% 2.4% Swing 3.3% 2.4%

Party list election results by state: dark blue denotes states where CSU had the absolute majority of the votes; lighter blue denotes states where CDU had the plurality of votes; red denotes states where the SPD had the absolute majority of the votes; and pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes

Chancellor before election Helmut Kohl CDU/CSU Elected Chancellor Helmut Kohl CDU/CSU

German federal elections took place on 2 December 1990, to elect members to the 12th Bundestag (parliament) of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was the first free and universal election in all of Germany since the election of 1932 which cemented Adolf Hitler's power. The result was a comprehensive victory for the governing coalition of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union and the Free Democratic Party, which was reelected to a third term.

Issues and campaign

This was the first election conducted after German reunification which took place on 3 October. Almost 150 seats had been added to represent the newly re-established eastern states of Germany without reducing the number of Western members. The euphoria following the reunification gave the ruling CDU/CSU–FDP coalition a dramatic advantage in both Western and Eastern Germany throughout the campaign.

Results

All change figures are relative to the pre-existing West German Bundestag.

 Summary of the 2 December 1990 German Bundestag election results

Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Seats	+/−	%
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	17,707,574	38.3	+0.8	192	+68	17,055,116	36.7	+2.3	76	+26	268	+83	40.5
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	16,279,980	35.2	−4.0	91	+12	15,545,366	33.5	−3.5	148	+41	239	+46	36.1
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	3,595,135	7.8	+3.1	1	+1	5,123,233	11.0	+1.9	78	+32	79	+31	11.9
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	3,423,904	7.4	−2.8	43	−2	3,302,980	7.1	−2.7	8	+4	51	+2	7.7
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	1,049,245	2.3	+2.3	1	+1	1,129,578	2.4	+2.4	16	+16	17	+17	2.6
	Alliance '90/The Greens (B90/Gr.) (East)	552,027	1.2	+1.2	0	±0	559,207	1.2	+1.2	8	+8	8	+8	1.2
	The Greens (West)	2,037,885	4.4	−2.6	0	±0	1,788,200	3.8	−4.5	0	−42	0	−44	0
	The Republicans (REP)	767,652	1.7	+1.7	0	±0	987,269	2.1	+2.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	The Grays – Gray Panthers (GRAUE)	218,412	0.5	+0.5	0	±0	385,910	0.8	+0.8	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	243,469	0.5	+0.4	0	±0	205,206	0.4	+0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	190,105	0.4	−0.1	0	±0	145,776	0.3	−0.3	0	±0	0	±0	0
	German Social Union (DSU)	131,747	0.3	+0.3	0	±0	89,008	0.2	+0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Christian League (Liga)	8,667	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	39,640	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Christian Centre (CM)	9,824	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	36,466	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Bavaria Party (BP)	10,836	0.0	±0	0	±0	31,315	0.1	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	The Women (FRAUEN)	1,433	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	12,077	0.0	−0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Patriots for Germany (Patrioten)	746	0.0	−0.1	0	±0	4,687	0.0	−0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Eco-Union (ÖKO-UNION)	1,106	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	4,661	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Union of Working Groups for Employee Politics and Democracy (VAA)	704	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	4,530	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Communist Party of Germany (KPD)	–	–	–	–	–	1,630	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Spartacist Workers' Party of Germany (SpAD)	124	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	1,610	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Federation of German Democrats (DDD)	474	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	1,009	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Federation of Socialist Workers (BSA)	214	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	826	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Responsible Citizens	72	0.0	±0	0	±0	492	0.0	−0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	European Federalist Party (EFP)	266	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Electoral groups and independents	43,324	0.1	−0.6	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
Invalid/blank votes		720,990	—	—	—	—	540,143	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Totals		46,995,915	100	±0.0	328	+80	46,995,915	100	±0.0	334	+85	662	+143	±0
Registered voters/turnout		60,436,560	77.8	—	—	—	60,436,560	77.8	—	—	—	—	—	—
Source: Federal Returning Officer

This was the one and only election for which the 5% threshold was not applied nationwide, but separately for East and West. As a result, while the Western Greens failed to gain representation, an ideologically similar party from the East, Alliance 90, did.

↓

319	239	79	17	8
CDU/CSU	SPD	FDP	PDS	Grüne

Popular Vote
CDU/CSU			43.82%
SPD			33.46%
F.D.P.			11.03%
B'90/GRÜNE			5.05%
PDS			2.43%
REP			2.13%
Other			2.08%

Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU			48.19%
SPD			36.10%
F.D.P.			11.93%
PDS			2.57%
B'90/GRÜNE			1.21%

Post-election

The governing CDU/CSU-FDP coalition was returned to office with a landslide majority, and Helmut Kohl remained chancellor. The CDU did exceptionally well in the former East Germany, which ironically had been the heartland of the SPD before the Nazi era. Kohl's CDU received over 20 million votes, the largest number ever received by one party in a German election since the end of World War II.

Seat results – SPD in red, combined Greens in green, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

References

1. "Voter turnout by election year". Website of the Federal Returning Officer's Office. The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved 7 November 2014.

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos