1990 German federal election

Last updated

1990 German federal election
Flag of Germany.svg
  West 1987
East 1990
2 December 1990 (1990-12-02) 1994  

All 662 seats in the Bundestag
332 seats needed for a majority
Registered60,436,560 (Increase2.svg 33.3%)
Turnout46,995,915 (77.8%) (Decrease2.svg 6.5 pp
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
KAS-Duchac, Josef-Bild-15465-2 (cropped) 1.jpg
Oskar Lafontaine (1990).jpg
Otto Graf Lambsdorff (1990).jpg
Candidate Helmut Kohl Oskar Lafontaine Otto Graf Lambsdorff
Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP
Last election44.3%, 223 seats37.0%, 186 seats9.1%, 46 seats
Seats before297 [a] 22657
Seats won31923979
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 14Increase2.svg 13Increase2.svg 22
Popular vote20,358,09615,545,3665,123,233
Percentage43.8%33.5%11.0%
SwingDecrease2.svg 0.5 pp Decrease2.svg 3.5 pp Increase2.svg 1.9 pp

 Fourth partyFifth party
 
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-1202-011, Berlin, Bundestagswahl, Gregor Gysi (cropped).jpg
B90
Candidate Gregor Gysi None
Party PDS Greens (East) [b]
Last electionDid not existDid not exist
Seats before247
Seats won178
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 7Increase2.svg 1
Popular vote1,129,578559,207
Percentage2.4% [c] 1.2% [d]
SwingNew partyNew party

1990 German federal election - Results by constituency.svg
The left side shows constituency winners of the election by their party colours. The right side shows party list winners of the election for the additional members by their party colours.

Government before election

Third Kohl cabinet
CDU/CSUFDP

Government after election

Fourth Kohl cabinet
CDU/CSUFDP

Federal elections were held in recently united Germany on 2 December 1990 to elect the members of the 12th Bundestag, within the regular time of nearly four years after the January 1987 West German federal election. Due to the accession of the former East German states on 3 October, after which the Bundestag was expanded with East German Volkskammer delegates, the elections were first democratic all-German elections since the early 1930s.

Contents

The result was a comprehensive victory for Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his governing coalition of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), which was reelected to a third term (and a fourth in 1994). The second vote (preferred national party, first vote is for a local candidate) result of the CDU/CSU, 20,358,096 votes, remains the highest ever total vote count in a democratic German election.

The elections marked the first since 1957 that a party other than CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) won a constituency seat (Direktmandat), breaking up the dominance of the two Volksparteien. The first (and only) time since 1957 that FDP won a constituency seat was by Uwe Lühr in Halle, home of Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the "architect of German reunification". In addition, Gregor Gysi (PDS) won Berlin-Marzahn – Hellersdorf.

Campaign

This was the first election conducted after German reunification which took place on 3 October. Previously, the Volkskammer had selected 144 of its members which were then co-opted as Members of the German Bundestag and served until the end of the 11th Bundestag.

Almost 150 seats had been added to represent the 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.

It was the one election for which the 5% threshold was applied not nationwide but separately for the former East Germany (including East Berlin) and former West Germany (including West Berlin). As a result, while the Western Greens did not gain representation, their ideologically-similar Eastern Alliance 90 did, with both merging to form Alliance 90/The Greens in 1993. The combined vote of the two lists totals over 5%, but as the two lists would not merge until 1993, it thus did not entitle the East German party to any elected members from the former West Germany, unlike the PDS, which managed to elect Ulla Jelpke in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The German Social Union (DSU) under leader Hansjoachim Walther, a right-wing party modeled after the Bavarian CSU running only in former East Germany, failed to achieve the separate 5% threshold, only receiving around 1% of the vote in the eastern states, mostly in the southeast. As part of the co-option, the DSU had previously had eight Members of the Bundestag, who sat as guests in the CDU/CSU caucus. The CSU, which had heavily supported the DSU financially, severed its ties in 1993 and the party fell into irrelevancy. After a law allowing a linkage of the lists of the CSU and DSU was overturned by the Federal Constitutional Court, the CSU tried to convince the CDU to stand down in several single-member constituencies to enable the DSU to enter the Bundestag separate from the 5% threshold, but Kohl adamantly refused.

Results

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

Bundestag 1990.svg
PartyParty-listConstituencyTotal
seats
+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Christian Democratic Union 17,055,11636.717617,707,57438.27192268+83
Social Democratic Party 15,545,36633.4614816,279,98035.1891239+46
Free Democratic Party 5,123,23311.03783,595,1357.77179+31
Christian Social Union 3,302,9807.1183,423,9047.404351+2
The Greens (West) 1,788,2003.8502,037,8854.4000−44
Party of Democratic Socialism 1,129,5782.43161,049,2452.27117New
The Republicans 987,2692.130767,6521.6600New
Alliance 90/Greens – Citizens' Movement (East) 559,2071.208552,0271.1908New
The Grays – Gray Panthers 385,9100.830218,4120.4700New
Ecological Democratic Party 205,2060.440243,4690.53000
National Democratic Party 145,7760.310190,1050.41000
German Social Union 89,0080.190131,7470.2800New
Christian League 39,6400.0908,6670.0200New
Christian Centre 36,4460.0809,8240.0200New
Bavaria Party 31,3150.07010,8360.02000
The Women 12,0770.0301,4330.00000
Patriots for Germany 4,6870.0107460.00000
Eco-Union4,6610.0101,1060.00000
Union of Working Groups for Employee Politics and Democracy4,5300.0107040.0000New
Communist Party of Germany 1,6300.0000New
Spartacist Workers' Party of Germany 1,6100.0001240.0000New
Federation of German Democrats1,0090.0004740.0000New
Federation of Socialist Workers 8260.0002140.0000New
Responsible Citizens 4920.000720.00000
European Federalist Party 2660.0000New
Independents and voter groups43,3240.09000
Total46,455,772100.0033446,274,925100.00328662+143
Valid votes46,455,77298.8546,274,92598.47
Invalid/blank votes540,1431.15720,9901.53
Total votes46,995,915100.0046,995,915100.00
Registered voters/turnout60,436,56077.7660,436,56077.76
Source: Bundeswahlleiter
Seat results - SPD in red, combined Greens in green, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black 1990 federal german result.svg
Seat results – SPD in red, combined Greens in green, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black
Winners by single-member constituency - SPD in red, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black Bundestagswahl 1990 Wahlkreisergebnisse.svg
Winners by single-member constituency – SPD in red, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

Results by state

Second vote (Zweitstimme, or votes for party list)

State CDU/CSU SPD FDP Grüne PDS REP Others
Flag of Baden-Wurttemberg.svg  Baden-Württemberg 46.529.112.35.70.33.22.9
Flag of Bavaria (lozengy).svg  Bavaria 51.926.78.74.60.25.02.9
Flag of Berlin.svg  Berlin 39.430.69.17.2 [e] 9.72.50.7
Flag of Brandenburg.svg  Brandenburg 36.332.99.76.611.01.71.8
Flag of Bremen.svg  Bremen 30.942.512.88.31.12.12.3
Flag of Hamburg.svg  Hamburg 36.641.012.05.81.11.71.8
Flag of Hesse.svg  Hesse 41.338.010.95.60.42.11.7
Flag of Lower Saxony.svg  Lower Saxony 44.338.410.34.50.31.01.2
Flag of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.svg  Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 41.226.59.15.914.21.41.7
Flag of North Rhine-Westphalia.svg  North Rhine-Westphalia 40.541.111.04.30.31.31.5
Flag of Rhineland-Palatinate.svg  Rhineland-Palatinate 45.636.110.44.00.21.72.0
Flag of Saarland.svg  Saarland 38.151.26.02.30.20.91.3
Flag of Saxony.svg  Saxony 49.518.212.45.99.01.23.8
Flag of Saxony-Anhalt (state).svg  Saxony-Anhalt 38.624.719.75.39.41.01.3
Flag of Schleswig-Holstein.svg  Schleswig-Holstein 43.538.511.44.00.31.21.1
Flag of Thuringia.svg  Thuringia 45.221.914.66.18.31.22.7
Old states (West) 44.335.710.64.80.32.32.0
New states (East) 41.824.312.96.211.11.52.3

Constituency seats

StateTotal
seats
Seats won
CDU SPD CSU FDP PDS
Baden-Württemberg 37361
Bavaria 45243
Berlin 13841
Brandenburg 1275
Bremen 33
Hamburg 716
Hesse 22139
Lower Saxony 312011
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 981
North Rhine-Westphalia 713338
Rhineland-Palatinate 16124
Saarland 55
Saxony 2121
Saxony-Anhalt 13121
Schleswig-Holstein 1192
Thuringia 1212
Total328192914311

List seats

StateTotal
seats
Seats won
SPD FDP CDU PDS CSU B90/Gr.
Baden-Württemberg 3623103
Bavaria 412498
Berlin 1553421
Brandenburg 1022132
Bremen 312
Hamburg 725
Hesse 261169
Lower Saxony 3416711
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 73121
North Rhine-Westphalia 752717301
Rhineland-Palatinate 18945
Saarland 6114
Saxony 198542
Saxony-Anhalt 136421
Schleswig-Holstein 13832
Thuringia 115321
Total33414878761688

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 had been the heartland of the SPD before the Nazi era.

Notes

  1. Does not include 8 German Social Union guests.
  2. A linked list of the Alliance 90 and the East German Green Party, running only in the new Eastern states.
  3. In the 1990 election, the 5% electoral threshold was applied separately in the Western states and the new Eastern states. The PDS won 11.1% of votes in the new states.
  4. In the 1990 election, the 5% electoral threshold was applied separately in the Western states and the new Eastern states. The Alliance 90–Eastern Greens grouping won 6.2% of votes in the new states.
  5. 3.9% West German Green Party, 3.3% East German Green Party/Alliance 90.

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References

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