West German federal election, 1976

German federal election, 1976
West Germany
3 October 1976
All 518 seats in the Bundestag
260 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout 90.7% (voting eligible)[1]
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Helmut Kohl Helmut Schmidt Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP
Leader since 1973 (CDU) 1974 1974
Last election 234 242 42
Seats won 254 224 40
Seat change Increase20 Decrease18 Decrease2
Popular vote 18,394,801 16,099,019 2,995,085
Percentage 48.6% 42.6% 7.9%
Swing Increase3.7% Decrease3.2% Decrease0.5%

Party list election results by state: red denotes states where the SPD had the absolute majority of the votes; pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes; darker blue denotes states where CDU/CSU had the absolute majority of the votes; and lighter blue denotes states where CDU had the plurality of votes
Chancellor before election

Helmut Schmidt
SPD

 Elected Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt
SPD

Seat results -- SPD in red, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 3 October 1976.

Campaign

The coalition of SPD and FDP wanted to be re-elected, with the SPD now led by Helmut Schmidt—the party's candidate for Chancellor. CDU and CSU tried to achieve an absolute majority of the votes to make CDU chairman Helmut Kohl Chancellor.

Results

 Summary of the 3 October 1976 German Bundestag election results
Parties Constituency Party list Total seats
Votes % +/− Seats +/− Votes % +/− Seats +/− Seats† +/− %
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 16,471,321 43.7 −5.2 114 −38 16,099,019 42.6 −3.2 100 +22 224 −18 43.2
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 14,423,157 38.3 +2.6 94 +29 14,367,302 38.0 +2.8 96 −18 201 +15 38.8
Christian Social Union (CSU) 4,008,514 10.6 +0.9 40 +9 4,027,499 10.6 +0.9 13 −4 53 +5 10.2
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 2,417,683 6.4 +1.6 0 ±0 2,995,085 7.9 −0.5 39 −2 40 −2 7.7
National Democratic Party (NPD) 136,028 0.4 −0.1 0 ±0 122,661 0.3 −0.3 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
German Communist Party (DKP) 170,855 0.5 +0.1 0 ±0 118,581 0.3 ±0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) 8,822 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 22,714 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Action Community of Independent Germans (AUD) 19,490 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 22,202 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Communist League of West Germany (KBW) 21,414 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 20,018 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
European Workers' Party (EAP) 3,177 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 6,811 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Christian Bavarian People's Party (CBV) 4,876 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 6,720 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
International Marxist Group (GIM) 2,037 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 4,759 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Action Community Fourth Party (AVP) 2,636 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 4,723 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
5%-Block 985 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 2,940 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Independent Workers' Party (UAP) 499 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 765 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
United Left (VL) 217 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 701 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
RFP 227 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Electoral groups and independents 3,706 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Invalid/blank votes 470,109 — — — — 343,253 — — — — — — —
Totals 38,165,753 100 ±0.0 248 ±0 38,165,753 100 ±0.0 248 ±0 518 ±0 ±0
Registered voters/turnout 42,058,015 90.7 — — — 42,058,015 90.7 — — — — — —
Source: Federal Returning Officer
^† — includes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (11 CDU, 10 SPD, 1 FDP).
↓
224 40 254
SPD FDP CDU/CSU
Popular Vote
CDU/CSU
  
 48.63%
SPD
  
 42.56%
F.D.P.
  
 7.92%
Other
  
 0.88%
Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU
  
 48.99%
SPD
  
 43.15%
F.D.P.
  
 7.86%

Aftermath

The coalition between the SPD and the FDP remained in government, with Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor. Between the "sister parties" of CDU and Bavarian CSU there emerged a critical conflict, as the CSU leader Franz Josef Strauß wanted to break both the united Bundestag group of the parties and the agreement not to compete against each other in any Land. Later, this attack was withdrawn, while Strauß became candidate for chancellor for the 1980 elections.

References

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