1994 German federal election

1994 German federal election

16 October 1994 (1994-10-16)
All 672 seats in the Bundestag 337 seats were needed for a majority
Registered	60,452,009 0.0%
Turnout	47,737,999 (79.0%) 1.2 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Helmut Kohl Rudolf Scharping Antje Vollmer Party CDU/CSU SPD Greens Leader since 1973 1993 Last election 319 seats 239 seats 8 seats 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 Gregor Gysi Party FDP PDS Leader since 1993 1990 Last election 79 seats 17 seats 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%
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; 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 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.

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

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.

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

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos