German federal election, 1990

German federal election, 1990

1987 ← 2 December 1990 (1990-12-02) → 1994

All 662 seats in the Bundestag 332 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Helmut Kohl Oskar Lafontaine Otto Graf Lambsdorff Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Leader since 1973 - 1988 Last election 234 seats 193 seats 48 seats Seats won 319 239 79 Seat change 85 46 31 Popular vote 20,358,096 15,545,366 5,123,233 Percentage 43.8% 33.5% 11.0% Swing 0.4% 3.5% 1.9%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader - Gregor Gysi Party Green PDS Leader since - 1990 Last election 28 seats new party Seats won 8 17 Seat change 20 17 Popular vote 2,347,407 1,129,578 Percentage 5.0% 2.4% Swing 3.3% 2.4%

Chancellor before election Helmut Kohl CDU/CSU Elected Chancellor Helmut Kohl CDU/CSU

German federal elections took place on 2 December 1990, to elect members to the 12th Bundestag (parliament) of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was the first free and universal election in all of Germany since the election of 1933 which cemented Adolf Hitler's power.

Issues and campaign

This was the first election conducted after the German Reunification that had happened two months earlier, and a large number of seats were added to represent newly 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.

Results

Germany
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Germany
Constitution Constitution Human rights
Executive President Joachim Gauck Chancellor Angela Merkel Cabinet
Legislature Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung) Federal Council (Bundesrat) Federal Diet (Bundestag) Joint Committee (Gemeinsamer Ausschuss)
Judiciary Judiciary Federal courts Constitutional Court Administrative Court Court of Justice Finance Court Labor Court Social court
Divisions States (Länder) Administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke) Districts (Kreise) Collective municipalities Municipalities (Gemeinden)
Elections Elections Political parties
Foreign policy Foreign relations European Union politics
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

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

 Summary of the 2 December 1990 German Bundestag election results

Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Seats	+/−	%
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	17,707,574	38.3	+0.8	192	+68	17,055,116	36.7	+2.3	76	+26	268	+83	40.5
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	16,279,980	35.2	-4.0	91	+12	15,545,366	33.5	-3.5	148	+41	239	+46	36.1
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	3,595,135	7.8	+3.1	1	+1	5,123,233	11.0	+1.9	78	+32	79	+31	11.9
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	3,423,904	7.4	-2.8	43	-2	3,302,980	7.1	-2.7	8	+4	51	+2	7.7
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	1,049,245	2.3	+2.3	1	+1	1,129,578	2.4	+2.4	16	+16	17	+17	2.6
	Alliance '90/The Greens (B90/Gr.) (East)	552,027	1.2	+1.2	0	±0	559,207	1.2	+1.2	8	+8	8	+8	1.2
	The Greens (West)	2,037,885	4.4	-2.6	0	±0	1,788,200	3.8	-4.5	0	-42	0	-44	0
	The Republicans (REP)	767,652	1.7	+1.7	0	±0	987,269	2.1	+2.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	The Grays – Gray Panthers (GRAUE)	218,412	0.5	+0.5	0	±0	385,910	0.8	+0.8	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	243,469	0.5	+0.4	0	±0	205,206	0.4	+0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	190,105	0.4	-0.1	0	±0	145,776	0.3	-0.3	0	±0	0	±0	0
	German Social Union (DSU)	131,747	0.3	+0.3	0	±0	89,008	0.2	+0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Christian League (Liga)	8,667	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	39,640	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Christian Centre (CM)	9,824	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	36,466	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Bavaria Party (BP)	10,836	0.0	±0	0	±0	31,315	0.1	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	The Women (FRAUEN)	1,433	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	12,077	0.0	-0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Patriots for Germany (Patrioten)	746	0.0	-0.1	0	±0	4,687	0.0	-0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Eco-Union (ÖKO-UNION)	1,106	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	4,661	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Union of Working Groups for Employee Politics and Democracy (VAA)	704	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	4,530	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Communist Party of Germany (KPD)	–	–	–	–	–	1,630	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Spartacist Workers' Party of Germany (SpAD)	124	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	1,610	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Federation of German Democrats (DDD)	474	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	1,009	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Federation of Socialist Workers (BSA)	214	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	826	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Responsible Citizens	72	0.0	±0	0	±0	492	0.0	-0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	European Federalist Party (EFP)	266	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Electoral groups and independents	43,324	0.1	-0.6	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
Totals		46,274,925	100	±0.0	328	+80	46,455,772	100	±0.0	334	+85	662	+143	±0

This was the one and only election for which the 5% threshold was not applied nation-wide, but separately for East and West. As a result The Greens (West) failed to gain representation while the East German Green Party did.

Post-election

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

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

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos