1980 West German federal election

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 5 October 1980 to elect the members of the ninth Bundestag. Although the CDU/CSU remained the largest faction in parliament, Helmut Schmidt of the Social Democratic Party remained Chancellor.

1980 West German federal election
5 October 1980 (1980-10-05)
All 519 seats in the Bundestag
260 seats needed for a majority
Registered43,231,741 2.8%
Turnout38,292,176 (88.6%)[1]
2.1%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Franz-Josef Strauss Helmut Schmidt Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP
Leader since 2 July 1979[lower-alpha 1] 16 May 1974[lower-alpha 2] 1 October 1974
Leader's seat Weilheim[lower-alpha 3] Bergedorf North Rhine-Westphalia
Last election 254 seats, 48.6% 224 seats, 42.6% 40 seats, 7.9%
Seats won 237 228 54
Seat change 17 4 14
Popular vote 16,897,659 16,260,677 4,030,999
Percentage 44.5% 42.9% 10.6%
Swing 4.1% 0.3% 2.7%
Results by constituency for the first votes. Grey denotes seats won by the CDU/CSU; red denotes seats won by the SPD.
Chancellor before election

Helmut Schmidt
SPD

 Elected Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt
SPD

Issues and campaign

Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of the SPD-FDP coalition wanted to be re-elected. The CDU/CSU tried to make their candidate the elected Chancellor, CSU leader Franz Josef Strauß. It was the first time that their candidate was from the CSU. Strauß, immensely popular in Bavaria, found it difficult to appeal to people in other parts of Germany. One important reason for Strauss's unpopularity compared to Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, was his tendency to talk sharply and militantly about his political opponents. Schmidt, by contrast, was still seen by many West German voters as a moderate and practical manager and doer, who focused on getting concrete political and economic results more than on political rhetoric (see, for example, Erling Bjöl, Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 22: From Peace to the Cold War, Helsinki: WSOY, 1984, pages 495, 497–499; Bjöl, Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West, Helsinki: WSOY, 1985, pages 353–356; Dennis L. Bark and David R. Gress, A History of West Germany: Volume 2: Democracy and Its Discontents, 1963–1988, "The Era of Macher [Doer]," London, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1989).

Results

 Summary of the 5 October 1980 German Bundestag election results
Parties Constituency Party list Total seats
Votes % +/− Seats +/− Votes % +/− Seats +/− Seats† +/− %
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 16,808,861 44.5 +0.8 127 +13 16,260,677 42.9 +0.3 91 −9 228 +4 43.9
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 13,467,207 35.6 −2.7 81 −13 12,989,200 34.2 −3.8 93 −3 185 −16 35.6
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 2,720,480 7.2 +0.8 0 ±0 4,030,999 10.6 +2.7 53 +14 54 +14 10.4
Christian Social Union (CSU) 3,941,365 10.4 −0.2 40 ±0 3,908,459 10.3 −0.3 12 −1 52 −1 10.0
The Greens 732,619 1.0 +1.0 0 ±0 569,589 1.5 +1.5 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
German Communist Party (DKP) 107,158 0.3 −0.2 0 ±0 71,600 0.2 −0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
National Democratic Party (NPD) – – – – – 68,096 0.2 −0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Citizens' Party 507 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 11,256 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
People's Front Against Reaction, Fascism and War (V) 7,160 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 9,319 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Communist League of West Germany (KBW) 12,008 0.0 −0.1 0 ±0 8,174 0.0 −0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
European Workers' Party (EAP) 4,992 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 7,666 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Christian Bavarian People's Party (CBV) – – – – – 3,946 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
DU 421 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Independent Workers' Party (UAP) 159 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
DFP 96 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Electoral groups and independents 3,498 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Invalid/blank votes 485,645 — — — — 353,115 — — — — — — —
Totals 38,292,176 100 ±0.0 248 ±0 38,292,176 100 ±0.0 249 +1 519 +1 ±0
Registered voters/turnout 43,231,741 88.6 — — — 43,231,741 88.6 — — — — — —
Source: Federal Returning Officer
^† — includes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (11 CDU, 10 SPD, 1 FDP).
↓
228 54 237
SPD FDP CDU/CSU
Popular Vote
CDU/CSU
 
 44.54%
SPD
 
 42.86%
FDP
 
 10.62%
GRÜNE
 
 1.50%
Other
 
 0.47%
Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU
 
 45.47%
SPD
 
 43.86%
FDP
 
 10.66%
Seat results – SPD in red, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

Post-election

The coalition between the SPD and the FDP returned to government, with Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor. In 1982, the FDP quit the government, which led to the government's collapse and replacement with a new CDU/CSU – FDP coalition under Helmut Kohl.

Notes
  1. Strauss was endorsed as the CDU/CSU's Chancellor candidate on 2 July 1979, while Helmut Kohl remained as CDU leader. Strauss had served as leader of the CSU since 18 March 1961.
  2. Schmidt succeeded Willy Brandt as Chancellor on 16 May 1974, but did not become leader of the SPD.
  3. Strauss was elected in Weilheim, but did not accept his mandate after the election.

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
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