West German federal election, 1965

Election for the 5th German Federal Diet^[1]

19 September 1965 (1965-09-19)^[1]

All 518 seats in the Bundestag 260 seats needed for a majority

Turnout	86.8% (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		14	17
Popular vote	15,524,068	12,813,186	3,096,739
Percentage	47.6%	39.3%	9.5%
Swing	2.2%	3.1%	3.3%

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

**Summary of the 19 September 1965 German Bundestag election results**
Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
Parties		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Seats^†	+/−	%
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	12,998,474	40.1	+3.6	94	+3	12,813,186	39.3	+3.1	108	+9	217	+14	41.9
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	12,631,319	38.9	+2.6	118	+4	12,387,562	38.0	+2.2	78	±0	202	+1	39.0
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	3,204,648	9.9	+0.2	36	−6	3,136,506	9.6	±0	13	+5	49	−1	9.5
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	2,562,294	7.9	−4.2	0	±0	3,096,739	9.5	−3.3	49	−18	50	−17	9.7

	National Democratic Party (NPD)	587,216	1.8	+1.8	0	±0	664,193	2.0	+2.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	German Peace Union (DFU)	386,900	1.2	−0.6	0	±0	434,182	1.3	−0.6	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Action Community of Independent Germans (AUD)	46,146	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	52,637	0.2	+0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Christian People's Party (CVP)	11,978	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	19,832	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Free Social Union (FSU)	6,287	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	10,631	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Independent Workers' Party (UAP)	1,127	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	3,959	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	European Federalist Party (EFP)	–	–	–	–	–	1,015	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Electoral groups and independents	660	0.0	±0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
Invalid/blank votes		979,158	—	—	—	—	795,765	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Totals		33,416,207	100	±0.0	248	+1	33,416,207	100	±0.0	248	-4	518	-3	±0
Registered voters/turnout		38,510,395	86.8	—	—	—	38,510,395	86.8	—	—	—	—	—	—
Source: Federal Returning Officer

^† — includes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (15 SPD, 6 CDU, 1 FDP).

↓
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 2 "Wahl zum 5. Deutschen Bundestag am 19. September 1965" (in German). Bundeswahlleiter. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
↑ "Voter turnout by election year". Website of the Federal Returning Officer's Office. The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
↑ Bjöl, Erling. "Erhard's Victory and Fall". Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West. p. 339.
↑ Bark, Dennis L.; Gress, David R. (1989). A History of West Germany, volume 2: Democracy and Its Discontents, 1963–1988. London, UK: Basil Blackwell.

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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