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All 496 seats in theBundestag[a] 249 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 38,677,235 0.4% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 33,523,064 (86.7%) 0.1pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Germany |
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Head of state |
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Federal elections were held inWest Germany on 28 September 1969 to elect the members of the 6thBundestag. TheCDU/CSU remained the largest faction and theSocial Democratic Party (SDP) remained the largest single party in theBundestag, winning 237 of the 518 seats. After the election, the SPD formed a coalition with theFree Democratic Party (FDP) and the former's leader Willy Brandt became the first Social Democratic Chancellor in West Germany's history, bringing an end to 20 years of CDU/CSU rule.
After the resignation of ChancellorLudwig Erhard on 1 December 1966, agrand coalition ofChristian Democrats andSocial Democrats had governedWest Germany under ChancellorKurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU), with SPD chairmanWilly Brandt as vice-chancellor and foreign minister.
Minister of Economic AffairsKarl Schiller (SPD) had proposed revaluing (increasing the external value of) theDeutsche Mark, West Germany's currency, to reduce the country's inflation rate and the rate of growth of the country's businesses' income. He also sought to reduce West Germany's economic dependence on the exports. However, Finance MinisterFranz-Josef Strauss (CSU) rejected the Deutsche Mark's revaluation becauseBavarian farmers, an important part of his constituency, opposed it. TheEuropean Economic Community's food commodity prices were paid inU.S. dollars, and the Deutsche Mark's revaluation would have made West German exports less competitive (i.e. more expensive for other Western Europeans to buy).
The coalition had already effectively ended before the election because of the revaluation dispute. In addition, enough West German voters were willing to give the Social Democratic leader, Foreign Minister Willy Brandt, a chance to govern West Germany. Brandt, who ran for the third time after1961 and1965, had shown sympathy towards groups, including left-wing intellectuals and activists of theGerman student movement, who had felt ignored by the Christian Democrat-led coalition governments. In addition, his intellect, self-control and reputation for honesty appealed to ordinary West Germans.[1][2][3]
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| Party | Party-list | Constituency | Seats | |||||||||
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Elected | West Berlin | Total | +/– | |||
| Social Democratic Party | 14,065,716 | 42.67 | 97 | 14,402,374 | 44.03 | 127 | 224 | 13 | 237 | +20 | ||
| Christian Democratic Union | 12,079,535 | 36.64 | 106 | 12,137,148 | 37.10 | 87 | 193 | 8 | 201 | –1 | ||
| Christian Social Union | 3,115,652 | 9.45 | 15 | 3,094,176 | 9.46 | 34 | 49 | 0 | 49 | 0 | ||
| Free Democratic Party | 1,903,422 | 5.77 | 30 | 1,554,651 | 4.75 | 0 | 30 | 1 | 31 | –19 | ||
| National Democratic Party | 1,422,010 | 4.31 | 0 | 1,189,375 | 3.64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Campaign for Democratic Progress | 197,331 | 0.60 | 0 | 209,180 | 0.64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Bavaria Party | 49,694 | 0.15 | 0 | 54,940 | 0.17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| European Federalist Party | 49,650 | 0.15 | 0 | 20,927 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| All-German Party | 45,401 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |||||
| Free Social Union | 16,371 | 0.05 | 0 | 10,192 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Centre Party | 15,933 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |||||
| Independent Workers' Party | 5,309 | 0.02 | 0 | 1,531 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| German People's Party | 461 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |||||
| Independents and voter groups | 38,561 | 0.12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 32,966,024 | 100.00 | 248 | 32,713,516 | 100.00 | 248 | 496 | 22 | 518 | 0 | ||
| Valid votes | 32,966,024 | 98.34 | 32,713,516 | 97.59 | ||||||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 557,040 | 1.66 | 809,548 | 2.41 | ||||||||
| Total votes | 33,523,064 | 100.00 | 33,523,064 | 100.00 | ||||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 38,677,235 | 86.67 | 38,677,235 | 86.67 | ||||||||
| Source:Bundeswahlleiter | ||||||||||||
| State | Total seats | Seats won | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPD | CDU | CSU | ||
| Baden-Württemberg | 36 | 9 | 27 | |
| Bavaria | 44 | 10 | 34 | |
| Bremen | 3 | 3 | ||
| Hamburg | 8 | 8 | ||
| Hesse | 22 | 20 | 2 | |
| Lower Saxony | 30 | 18 | 12 | |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 73 | 47 | 26 | |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 16 | 6 | 10 | |
| Saarland | 5 | 2 | 3 | |
| Schleswig-Holstein | 11 | 4 | 7 | |
| Total | 248 | 127 | 87 | 34 |
| State | Total seats | Seats won | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDU | SPD | FDP | CSU | ||
| Baden-Württemberg | 34 | 10 | 18 | 6 | |
| Bavaria | 40 | 21 | 4 | 15 | |
| Bremen | 2 | 2 | |||
| Hamburg | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | |
| Hesse | 24 | 17 | 4 | 3 | |
| Lower Saxony | 33 | 18 | 11 | 4 | |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 78 | 43 | 26 | 9 | |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 15 | 6 | 7 | 2 | |
| Saarland | 3 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Schleswig-Holstein | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | |
| Total | 248 | 106 | 97 | 30 | 15 |
Willy Brandt, against the will of several party fellows likeHerbert Wehner orHelmut Schmidt, chose to leave the grand coalition with the CDU/CSU, forming asocial-liberal coalition with theFree Democratic Party (FDP) instead. On 21 October 1969 he was electedChancellor of Germany, the first SPD chancellor in the postwar period, after the last Social Democrat holding this position had beenHermann Müller from 1928 to 1930. FDP chairmanWalter Scheel succeeded Brandt as vice-chancellor and foreign minister. Brandt's government proceeded with the revaluation Schiller had proposed, raising the value of the mark by 9.3% in late October.[4]
Disappointed Kiesinger bitterly complained about the faithless liberals. Though he had again achieved theplurality of votes for the CDU, he had to lead his party into opposition. He was succeeded as chairman byRainer Barzel in 1971.
However theCabinet Brandt I could only rely on anabsolute majority (Kanzlermehrheit) of twelve votes in the Bundestag. Several party switches in protest against Brandt'sOstpolitik of FDP and SPD members resulted in thesnap election of1972.
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