West German federal election, 1983

German federal election, 1983

6 March 1983 (1983-03-06)

All 520 seats in the Bundestag
261 seats were needed for a majority

Turnout

89.1% (voting eligible)^[1]

	First party	Second party

Leader	Helmut Kohl	Hans-Jochen Vogel
Party	CDU/CSU	SPD
Leader since	1973	–
Last election	237 seats	228 seats
Seats won	255	202
Seat change	18	26
Popular vote	18,998,545	14,865,807
Percentage	48.8%	38.2%
Swing	4.3%	4.7%

	Third party	Fourth party

Leader	Hans-Dietrich Genscher	Petra Kelly
Party	FDP	Green
Leader since	1974
Last election	54 seats	0 seats
Seats won	35	28
Seat change	19	28
Popular vote	2,706,942	2,167,431
Percentage	6.9%	5.6%
Swing	3.7%	4.1%

Party list election results by state: dark blue denotes states where CDU/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

Germany

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German federal elections took place on 6 March 1983, to elect members to the 10th Bundestag (parliament) of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Issues and campaign

In October 1982 CDU chairman Helmut Kohl was elected Chancellor by a CDU/CSU and FDP majority in the Bundestag, while the FDP in 1980 still was on the side of the SPD. Early elections were arranged. The SPD encountered difficulties because on the left a new party was emerging, the Greens.

A major issue in this election was the armament question after the NATO Double-Track Decision.

Results

**Summary of the 6 March 1983 West German Bundestag election results**
Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
Parties		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Seats^a	+/−	%
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	15,686,033	40.4	−4.1	68	−59	14,865,807	38.2	−4.7	125	+34	202	−26	38.9
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)^c	15,943,460	41.0	+5.4	136	+55	14,857,680	38.1	+3.9	55	−38	202	+17	38.9
	Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU)^c	4,318,800	11.1	+0.7	44	+4	4,140,865	10.6	+0.3	9	−3	53	+1	10.2
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	1,087,918	2.8	−4.4	0	±0	2,706,942	6.9	−3.7	34	−19	35	-19	6.7
	The Greens^b	1,609,855	4.1	+3.1	0	±0	2,167,431	5.6	+4.1	27	+27	28	+28	5.4

	National Democratic Party (NPD)	57,112	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	91,095	0.2	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	German Communist Party (DKP)	96,143	0.2	−0.1	0	±0	64,986	0.2	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	European Workers' Party (EAP)	7,491	0.0	±0	0	±0	14,966	0.0	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	3,341	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	11,028	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Christian Bavarian People's Party (CBV)	2,068	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	10,994	0.0	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Communist Party of Germany (KPD)	–	–	–	–	–	3,431	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Independent Social Democrats (USD)	450	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	3,333	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	League of West German Communists (BWK)	686	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	2,129	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Electoral groups and independents	31,996	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
Invalid/blank votes		434,176	—	—	—	—	338,841	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Totals		39,279,529	100	±0.0	248	±0	39,279,529	100	±0.0	250	+1	520	+1	±0
Registered voters/turnout		44,088,935	89.1	—	—	—	44,088,935	89.1	—	—	—	—	—	—
Source: Federal Returning Officer

^a — includes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (11 CDU, 9 SPD, 1 FDP, 1 AL).

^b — known as Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz (AL) in West Berlin.

^c — The Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria call themselves sister parties. They do not compete against each other in the same geographical regions and they form one group within the Bundestag.

↓
255	35	202	28
CDU/CSU	FDP	SPD	Grüne

Popular Vote

CDU/CSU			48.79%
SPD			38.18%
F.D.P.			6.95%
GRÜNE			5.57%
Other			0.52%

Bundestag seats

CDU/CSU			49.00%
SPD			38.76%
F.D.P.			6.83%
GRÜNE			5.42%

Seat results – SPD in red, Greens in green, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

Post-election

The coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP returned to government, with Helmut Kohl as Chancellor. This was the first election in which the Greens secured representation in the Bundestag, and the first which saw a fourth (fifth) party in the parliament since 1960.

References

↑ "Voter turnout by election year". Website of the Federal Returning Officer's Office. The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved 7 November 2014.

Sources

Elections in Germany
Parliamentary elections	1848 1867 (Feb) 1867 (Aug) 1868 1871 1874 1877 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1898 1903 1907 1912 1919 1920 1924 (May) 1924 (Dec) 1928 1930 1932 (July) 1932 (Nov) 1933 (Mar) 1933 (Nov) 1936 1938 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1998 2002 2005 2009 2013 2017
Presidential elections	1925 1932
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014
Referendums	1926 1928 1929 1933 1934 1936 1938
See also elections in Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thuringia East Germany East Prussia Lower Silesia

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