1990 German federal election

Federal elections were held in Germany on 2 December 1990 to elect the members of the 12th Bundestag. This was the first all-German election since the Nazi show election in April 1938, the first multi-party all-German election since that of March 1933, which was held after the Nazi seizure of power and was subject to widespread suppression, and the first free and fair all-German election since November 1932. The result was a comprehensive victory for the governing coalition of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), which was reelected to a third term. The second vote result of the CDU/CSU, 20,358,096 votes, remains the highest ever total vote count in a democratic German election.

1990 German federal election

← West 1987 ← East 1990 2 December 1990 (1990-12-02) 1994 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 662 seats in the Bundestag 332 seats needed for a majority
Registered	60,436,560 33.3%
Turnout	46,995,915 (77.8%) 6.5pp
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Helmut Kohl Oskar Lafontaine Otto Graf Lambsdorff Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Last election 44.3%, 223 seats 37.0%, 186 seats 9.1%, 46 seats Seats before 297^[a] 226 57 Seats won 319 239 79 Seat change 14 13 22 Popular vote 20,358,096 15,545,366 5,123,233 Percentage 43.8% 33.5% 11.0% Swing 0.5pp 3.5pp 1.9pp   Fourth party Fifth party   B90 Candidate Gregor Gysi None Party PDS Greens (East)^[c] Last election Did not exist Did not exist Seats before 24 7 Seats won 17 8 Seat change 7 1 Popular vote 1,129,578 559,207 Percentage 2.4%^[b] 1.2%^[d] Swing New party New party
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.
Government before election Third Kohl cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP Government after election Fourth Kohl cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP

The elections marked the first since 1957 that a party other than CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) won a constituency seat, and the first (and only) time since 1957 that FDP won a constituency seat (Halle).

Campaign

This was the first election conducted after German reunification which took place on 3 October. Previously, the Volkskammer had selected 144 of its members which were then co-opted as Members of the German Bundestag and served until the end of the 11th Bundestag.

Almost 150 seats had been added to represent the re-established eastern states of Germany, without reducing the number of western members. The euphoria following the reunification gave the ruling CDU/CSU–FDP coalition a dramatic advantage in both Western and Eastern Germany throughout the campaign.

It was the one election for which the 5% threshold was applied not nationwide but separately for the former East Germany (including East Berlin) and former West Germany (including West Berlin). As a result, while the Western Greens did not gain representation, their ideologically-similar Eastern Alliance 90 did, with both merging to form Alliance 90/The Greens in 1993. The combined vote of the two lists totals over 5%, but as the two lists would not merge until 1993, it thus did not entitle the East German party to any elected members from the former West Germany, unlike the PDS, who managed to elect Ulla Jelpke in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The German Social Union (DSU) under leader Hansjoachim Walther, a right-wing party modeled after the Bavarian CSU running only in former East Germany, failed to achieve the separate 5% threshold, only receiving around 1% of the vote in the eastern states, mostly in the southeast. As part of the co-option, the DSU had previously had eight Members of the Bundestag, who sat as guests in the CDU/CSU caucus. The CSU, which had heavily supported the DSU financially, severed its ties in 1993 and the party fell into irrelevancy. After a law allowing a linkage of the lists of the CSU and DSU was overturned by the Federal Constitutional Court, the CSU tried to convince the CDU to stand down in several single-member constituencies to enable the DSU to enter the Bundestag separate from the 5% threshold, but Kohl adamantly refused.

Results

All change figures are relative to the pre-existing West German Bundestag.

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Christian Democratic Union	17,055,116	36.71	76	17,707,574	38.27	192	268	+83
	Social Democratic Party	15,545,366	33.46	148	16,279,980	35.18	91	239	+46
	Free Democratic Party	5,123,233	11.03	78	3,595,135	7.77	1	79	+31
	Christian Social Union	3,302,980	7.11	8	3,423,904	7.40	43	51	+2
	The Greens (West)	1,788,200	3.85	0	2,037,885	4.40	0	0	−44
	Party of Democratic Socialism	1,129,578	2.43	16	1,049,245	2.27	1	17	New
	The Republicans	987,269	2.13	0	767,652	1.66	0	0	New
	Alliance 90/Greens – Citizens' Movement (East)	559,207	1.20	8	552,027	1.19	0	8	New
	The Grays – Gray Panthers	385,910	0.83	0	218,412	0.47	0	0	New
	Ecological Democratic Party	205,206	0.44	0	243,469	0.53	0	0	0
	National Democratic Party	145,776	0.31	0	190,105	0.41	0	0	0
	German Social Union	89,008	0.19	0	131,747	0.28	0	0	New
	Christian League	39,640	0.09	0	8,667	0.02	0	0	New
	Christian Centre	36,446	0.08	0	9,824	0.02	0	0	New
	Bavaria Party	31,315	0.07	0	10,836	0.02	0	0	0
	The Women	12,077	0.03	0	1,433	0.00	0	0	0
	Patriots for Germany	4,687	0.01	0	746	0.00	0	0	0
	Eco-Union	4,661	0.01	0	1,106	0.00	0	0	0
	Union of Working Groups for Employee Politics and Democracy	4,530	0.01	0	704	0.00	0	0	New
	Communist Party of Germany	1,630	0.00	0				0	New
	Spartacist Workers' Party of Germany	1,610	0.00	0	124	0.00	0	0	New
	Federation of German Democrats	1,009	0.00	0	474	0.00	0	0	New
	Federation of Socialist Workers	826	0.00	0	214	0.00	0	0	New
	Responsible Citizens	492	0.00	0	72	0.00	0	0	0
	European Federalist Party				266	0.00	0	0	New
	Independents and voter groups				43,324	0.09	0	0	0
Total		46,455,772	100.00	334	46,274,925	100.00	328	662	+143
Valid votes		46,455,772	98.85		46,274,925	98.47
Invalid/blank votes		540,143	1.15		720,990	1.53
Total votes		46,995,915	100.00		46,995,915	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		60,436,560	77.76		60,436,560	77.76
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

 

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

 

Winners by single-member constituency – SPD in red, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

Results by state

Second vote (Zweitstimme, or votes for party list)

State	CDU/CSU	SPD	FDP	Grüne	PDS	REP	Others
Baden-Württemberg	46.5	29.1	12.3	5.7	0.3	3.2	2.9
Bavaria	51.9	26.7	8.7	4.6	0.2	5.0	2.9
Berlin	39.4	30.6	9.1	7.2^[e]	9.7	2.5	0.7
Brandenburg	36.3	32.9	9.7	6.6	11.0	1.7	1.8
Bremen	30.9	42.5	12.8	8.3	1.1	2.1	2.3
Hamburg	36.6	41.0	12.0	5.8	1.1	1.7	1.8
Hesse	41.3	38.0	10.9	5.6	0.4	2.1	1.7
Lower Saxony	44.3	38.4	10.3	4.5	0.3	1.0	1.2
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	41.2	26.5	9.1	5.9	14.2	1.4	1.7
North Rhine-Westphalia	40.5	41.1	11.0	4.3	0.3	1.3	1.5
Rhineland-Palatinate	45.6	36.1	10.4	4.0	0.2	1.7	2.0
Saarland	38.1	51.2	6.0	2.3	0.2	0.9	1.3
Saxony	49.5	18.2	12.4	5.9	9.0	1.2	3.8
Saxony-Anhalt	38.6	24.7	19.7	5.3	9.4	1.0	1.3
Schleswig-Holstein	43.5	38.5	11.4	4.0	0.3	1.2	1.1
Thuringia	45.2	21.9	14.6	6.1	8.3	1.2	2.7
Old states (West)	44.3	35.7	10.6	4.8	0.3	2.3	2.0
New states (East)	41.8	24.3	12.9	6.2	11.1	1.5	2.3

Constituency seats

State	Total seats	Seats won
		CDU	SPD	CSU	FDP	PDS
Baden-Württemberg	37	36	1
Bavaria	45		2	43
Berlin	13	8	4			1
Brandenburg	12	7	5
Bremen	3		3
Hamburg	7	1	6
Hesse	22	13	9
Lower Saxony	31	20	11
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	9	8	1
North Rhine-Westphalia	71	33	38
Rhineland-Palatinate	16	12	4
Saarland	5		5
Saxony	21	21
Saxony-Anhalt	13	12			1
Schleswig-Holstein	11	9	2
Thuringia	12	12
Total	328	192	91	43	1	1

List seats

State	Total seats	Seats won
		SPD	FDP	CDU	PDS	CSU	B90/Gr.
Baden-Württemberg	36	23	10	3
Bavaria	41	24	9			8
Berlin	15	5	3	4	2		1
Brandenburg	10	2	2	1	3		2
Bremen	3		1	2
Hamburg	7		2	5
Hesse	26	11	6	9
Lower Saxony	34	16	7	11
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	7	3	1		2		1
North Rhine-Westphalia	75	27	17	30	1
Rhineland-Palatinate	18	9	4	5
Saarland	6	1	1	4
Saxony	19	8	5		4		2
Saxony-Anhalt	13	6	4		2		1
Schleswig-Holstein	13	8	3	2
Thuringia	11	5	3		2		1
Total	334	148	78	76	16	8	8

Post-election

The governing CDU/CSU-FDP coalition was returned to office with a landslide majority, and Helmut Kohl remained chancellor. The CDU did exceptionally well in the former East Germany, which had been the heartland of the SPD before the Nazi era.

Notes

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1990 Germany Bundestagswahl.

1. Does not include 8 German Social Union guests.
2. In the 1990 election, the 5% electoral threshold was applied separately in the Western states and the new Eastern states. The PDS won 11.1% of votes in the new states.
3. A linked list of the Alliance 90 and the East German Green Party, running only in the new Eastern states.
4. In the 1990 election, the 5% electoral threshold was applied separately in the Western states and the new Eastern states. The Alliance 90–Eastern Greens grouping won 6.2% of votes in the new states.
5. 3.9% West German Green Party, 3.3% East German Green Party/Alliance 90.

References

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos