West German federal election, 1980

German federal election, 1980

1976 ← 5 October 1980 (1980-10-05) → 1983

All 497 seats in the Bundestag 249 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Helmut Schmidt Franz-Josef Strauß Party SPD CDU/CSU Leader since - (chancellor since 1974) 1961 (CSU only) Last election 214 seats (253 with FDP) 243 seats Seats won 218 (271 with FDP) 226 Seat change +4 (+18) -17 Popular vote 16,260,677 (20,291,676) 16,897,659 Percentage 42.9% (53.5%) 44.5% Swing +0.3% (+3.0%) -4.1%

Chancellor before election Helmut Schmidt SPD Elected Chancellor Helmut Schmidt SPD

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The 9th German federal election, 1980, was conducted on 5 October 1980, to elect members to the Bundestag (parliament) of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Issues and Campaign

Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of the SPD - FDP coalition wanted to be re-elected. 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

	Party	Party List votes	Vote percentage (change)		Total Seats (change)		Seat percentage
	Social Democratic Party	16,260,677	42.9%	+0.3%	218	+4	43.9%
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	4,030,999	10.6%	+2.7%	53	+14	10.7%
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	12,989,200	34.2%	-3.8%	174	-16	35.0%
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	3,908,459	10.3%	-0.3%	52	-1	10.5%
	The Greens	569,589	1.5%	+1.5%	0	+0	0.0%
	All Others	180,057	0.5%		0		0.0%
	Totals	37,938,981	100.0%		497	+1	100.0%

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, and this led to the government's collapse followed by a new CDU/CSU - FDP coalition under Helmut Kohl.

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos