German federal election, 1990

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German federal election, 1990

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  West (1987)
East (1990)
2 December 1990 (1990-12-02) 1994  

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
  Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F074398-0021 Kohl (cropped).jpg Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F079276-0010 Lafontaine (cropped).jpg Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F054879-0030, Mainz, FDP-Bundesparteitag, Lambsdorff (cropped).jpg
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 changeIncrease2.svg85Increase2.svg46Increase2.svg31
Popular vote 20,358,096 15,545,366 5,123,233
Percentage 43.8% 33.5% 11.0%
SwingDecrease2.svg0.4%Decrease2.svg3.5%Increase2.svg1.9%

  Fourth party Fifth party
  Petra Kelly, 1987 (cropped).jpg Gregor Gysi.jpg
Leader Petra Kelly Gregor Gysi
Party Green PDS
Leader since 1990
Last election 44 seatsnew party
Seats won 8 17
Seat changeDecrease2.svg36Increase2.svg17
Popular vote 2,347,407 1,129,578
Percentage 5.0% 2.4%
SwingDecrease2.svg3.3%Increase2.svg2.4%

German Federal Election - Party list vote results by state - 1990.png

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

Federal elections were held in Germany on 2 December 1990 to elect the members of the 12th Bundestag. They were the first competitive and universal all-German election since the elections of March 1933, 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.

Germany Federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

Bundestag Federal parliament of Germany

The Bundestag is the German federal parliament. It can be compared to the chamber of deputies along the lines of the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Through the Bundesrat, a separate institution, the individual states of Germany participate in legislation similar to a second house in a bicameral parliament.

Contents

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.

German reunification process in 1990 in which East and West Germany once again became one country

The German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic became part of the Federal Republic of Germany to form the reunited nation of Germany, and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz (constitution) Article 23. The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity, celebrated on 3 October. Following German reunification, Berlin was once again designated as the capital of united Germany.

New states of Germany

The new federal states of Germany are the five re-established states in the former East Germany that acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany with its 10 states upon German reunification on 3 October 1990.

This was the one and only election for which the 5% threshold was not applied nationwide, but separately for East Germany (including East Berlin) and West Germany (including West Berlin). As a result, while the Western The Greens failed to gain representation, an ideologically similar party from the East, Alliance 90, did. They merged to form Alliance 90/The Greens in 1993.

East Germany Former communist country, 1949-1990

East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic, was a country that existed from 1949 to 1990, when the eastern portion of Germany was part of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. It described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state", and the territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces at the end of World War II — the Soviet Occupation Zone of the Potsdam Agreement, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin but did not include it; as a result, West Berlin remained outside the jurisdiction of the GDR.

East Berlin Soviet sector of Berlin between 1949 and 1990

East Berlin was the de facto capital city of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989, East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall. The Western Allied powers did not recognise East Berlin as the GDR's capital, nor the GDR's authority to govern East Berlin.

West Germany Federal Republic of Germany in the years 1949–1990

West Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, and referred to by historians as the Bonn Republic, was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1949 to 1990, when the western portion of Germany was part of the Western bloc during the Cold War. It was created during the Allied occupation of Germany in 1949 after World War II, established from eleven states formed in the three Allied zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Its capital was the city of Bonn.

Results

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This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
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Foreign relations

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

e    d  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
Totals46,995,915100±0.0328+8046,995,915100±0.0334+85662+143±0
Registered voters/turnout 60,436,560 77.8 60,436,560 77.8
Source: Federal Returning Officer
31979239178
CDU/CSUFDPSPDPDS
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 had been the heartland of the SPD before the Nazi era.

Helmut Kohl former chancellor of West Germany (1982-1990) and then the united Germany (1990-1998)

Helmut Josef Michael Kohl was a German statesman who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and as the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. From 1969 to 1976, Kohl was minister president of the state Rhineland-Palatinate. Kohl chaired the Group of Seven in 1985 and 1992. In 1998 he became honorary chairman of the CDU, resigning from the position in 2000.

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
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

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References

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

Sources