1994 German federal election

Federal elections were held in Germany on 16 October 1994 to elect the members of the 13th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU alliance led by Helmut Kohl remained the largest faction in parliament, with Kohl remaining Chancellor. This elected Bundestag was largest in history until 2017, numbering 672 members.

1994 German federal election
16 October 1994 (1994-10-16)
All 672 seats in the Bundestag
337 seats needed for a majority
Registered60,452,009 0.0%
Turnout47,737,999 (79.0%)[1]
1.2%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Helmut Kohl Rudolf Scharping Ludger Volmer &
Marianne Birthler
Party CDU/CSU SPD Green
Leader since 12 June 1973 25 June 1993 1993
Leader's seat Ludwigshafen Rhineland-Palatinate North Rhine-Westphalia &
–
Last election 319 seats, 43.8% 239 seats, 33.5% 8 seats, 5.0%
Seats won 294 252 49
Seat change 25 13 41
Popular vote 19,517,156 17,140,354 3,424,315
Percentage 41.4% 36.4% 7.3%
Swing 2.4% 2.9% 2.3%
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Klaus Kinkel Lothar Bisky
Party FDP PDS
Leader since 11 June 1993 31 January 1993
Leader's seat Baden-Württemberg Did not run
Last election 79 seats, 11.0% 17 seats, 2.4%
Seats won 47 30
Seat change 32 13
Popular vote 3,258,407 2,066,176
Percentage 6.9% 4.4%
Swing 4.1% 2.0%
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.
Chancellor before election

Helmut Kohl
CDU/CSU

 Elected Chancellor

Helmut Kohl
CDU/CSU

Issues and campaign

The SPD let its members elect a candidate for Chancellor against Helmut Kohl. Rudolf Scharping, Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, beat Gerhard Schröder and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul in the SPD's internal election. Tension between Scharping and other SPD leaders such as Oskar Lafontaine and Gerhard Schröder hampered his campaign.

For the first time in their existence, the Greens seemed to be willing to actually join a government in the event that a centre-left SPD-Grünen coalition had a workable majority in the Bundestag.

Results
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 Summary of 16 October 1994 German Bundestag election results
Parties Constituency Party list Total seats
Votes % +/− Seats +/− Votes % +/− Seats +/− Seats +/− %
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 17,966,813 38.3 +3.1 103 +12 17,140,354 36.4 +2.9 149 +1 252 +13 37.5
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 17,473,325 37.2 −1.1 177 −15 16,089,960 34.2 −2.5 67 −9 244 −24 36.3
Christian Social Union (CSU) 3,657,627 7.8 +0.4 44 +1 3,427,196 7.3 +0.2 6 −2 50 −1 7.4
Alliance '90/The Greens† 3,037,902 6.5 +0.9 0 ±0 3,424,315 7.3 +2.3 49 +41 49 +41 7.3
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 1,558,185 3.3 −4.5 0 −1 3,258,407 6.9 −4.1 47 −31 47 −32 7.0
Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) 1,920,420 4.1 +1.8 4 +3 2,066,176 4.4 +2.0 26 +10 30 +13 4.5
The Republicans (REP) 787,757 1.7 ±0 0 ±0 875,239 1.9 −0.2 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
The Grays – Gray Panthers (GRAUE) 178,450 0.4 −0.1 0 ±0 238,642 0.5 −0.3 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) 200,138 0.4 −0.1 0 ±0 183,715 0.4 ±0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Natural Law Party (Naturgesetz) 59,087 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 73,193 0.2 +0.2 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Animal Protection Party – – – – – 71,643 0.2 +0.2 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Party of Bible-abiding Christians (PBC) 26,864 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 65,651 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Statt Party (STATT) 7,927 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 63,354 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Bavaria Party (BP) 3,324 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 42,491 0.1 ±0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Car-drivers' and Citizens' Interests Party (APD) 1,654 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 21,533 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Christian Centre (CM) 3,559 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 19,887 0.0 −0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Party of the Willing to Work and Socially Vulnerable (PASS) 489 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 15,040 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) 4,932 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 10,038 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Solidarity (BüSo) 8,032 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 8,103 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Christian League (Liga) 3,788 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 5,195 0.0 −0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Centre Party (Zentrum) 1,489 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 3,757 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Federation of Socialist Workers (BSA) – – – – – 1,285 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Free Citizens' Union (FBU) 8,193 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
German Social Union (DSU) 2,395 0.0 −0.3 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
German Communist Party (DKP) 693 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
DVP 606 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Free Social Union (FSU) 467 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) 426 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Independent Workers' Party (UAP) 302 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Liberal Democrats (LD) 221 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Federation for a Complete Germany (BGD) 107 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Democrats (DEMOKRATEN) 104 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Electoral groups and independents 34,080 0.1 ±0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Invalid/blank votes 788,643 — — — — 632,825 — — — — — — —
Totals 47,737,999 100 ±0.0 328 ±0 47,737,999 100 ±0.0 344 +10 672 +10 ±0
Registered voters/turnout 60,452,009 79.0 — — — 60,452,009 79.0 — — — — — —
Source: Federal Returning Officer
^† — totals for the Greens reflect the merger of the Western and Eastern Green parties.
Seat results – SPD in red, combined Greens in green, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black
↓
294 47 252 49 30
CDU/CSU FDP SPD Grüne PDS
Popular Vote
CDU/CSU
 
 41.43%
SPD
 
 36.39%
B'90/GRÜNE
 
 7.27%
FDP
 
 6.92%
PDS
 
 4.39%
REP
 
 1.86%
Other
 
 1.75%
Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU
 
 43.75%
SPD
 
 37.50%
B'90/GRÜNE
 
 7.29%
FDP
 
 6.99%
PDS
 
 4.46%

Post-election

The coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP was able to continue in power with Helmut Kohl as chancellor.

The PDS won four constituency seats in its power base of the former East Berlin, qualifying it for proportional representation even though the party won 4.4 percent of the vote, just short of the 5% electoral threshold required for full parliamentary status. Under a longstanding electoral law intended to benefit regional parties, any party that wins at least three constituency seats is entitled to its share of proportionally-elected seats, regardless of vote share.[2]

This was the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that the FDP was not the third largest party in the chamber.

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.
  2. Dan Hough; Michael Koß; Jonathan Olsen (2007). The Left Party in Contemporary German Politics. Springer. ISBN 978-0230592148.

Sources
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