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1965 West German federal election

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Election for the 5th German Federal Diet[1]
← 1961 19 September 1965 (1965-09-19)[1] 1969 →
All 518 seats in the Bundestag
260 seats needed for a majority
Turnout86.8% (voting eligible)[2]
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Ludwig Erhard Willy Brandt Erich Mende
Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP
Seats before 251 203 67
Seats won 251 217 50
Seat change Steady Increase14 Decrease17
Popular vote 15,524,068 12,813,186 3,096,739
Percentage 47.6% 39.3% 9.5%
Swing Increase2.2% Increase3.1% Decrease3.3%
Party list election results by state: the lighter blue denotes states where CDU had the plurality of votes; darker blue denotes states where CSU had the absolute majority of the votes; and pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes
Chancellor before election

Ludwig Erhard
CDU/CSU

Elected Chancellor

Ludwig Erhard
CDU/CSU

Seat results -- SPD in red, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black
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Federal elections were held in West Germany on 19 September 1965. The CDU/CSU remained the largest faction, while the Social Democratic Party remained the largest single party in the Bundestag, winning 251 of the 518 seats (including 15 of the 22 non-voting delegates for West Berlin).

Campaign

Federal Chancellor Ludwig Erhard was initially popular as the acclaimed "father" of West Germany's economic miracle of the 1950s and early 1960s. West Germany's economy still seemed solid in 1965, and thus not enough West German voters wanted to change the party of Federal Chancellor. To ensure his victory in this Bundestag election, Erhard promised to cut income tax and to increase social program spending.[3][4]

Results

Template:German federal election, 1965

↓
251 50 217
CDU/CSU FDP SPD
Popular Vote
CDU/CSU
 
 47.59%
SPD
 
 39.28%
FDP
 
 9.49%
NPD
 
 2.04%
DFU
 
 1.33%
Other
 
 0.27%
Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU
 
 49.40%
SPD
 
 40.73%
FDP
 
 9.88%

Aftermath

The coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP returned to government, with Ludwig Erhard as Chancellor. In 1966, the FDP left the coalition over budget issues, and Erhard resigned. Kurt Georg Kiesinger (also CDU) formed a new grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD which lasted until the next election.

References

  1. ^ a b "Wahl zum 5. Deutschen Bundestag am 19. September 1965" (in German). Bundeswahlleiter. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Voter turnout by election year". Website of the Federal Returning Officer's Office. The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  3. ^ Bjöl, Erling. "Erhard's Victory and Fall". Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West. p. 339.
  4. ^ Bark, Dennis L.; Gress, David R. (1989). A History of West Germany, volume 2: Democracy and Its Discontents, 1963–1988. London, UK: Basil Blackwell.
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