1983 West German federal election

1983 West German federal election

← 1980 6 March 1983 (1983-03-06) 1987 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 498 seats in the Bundestag[a] 250 seats needed for a majority
Registered	44,088,935 2.0%
Turnout	39,279,529 (89.1%) 0.5pp
First party Second party   Candidate Helmut Kohl Hans-Jochen Vogel Party CDU/CSU SPD Leader's seat Rhineland-Palatinate list Berlin list Last election 44.5%, 226 seats 42.9%, 218 seats Seats won 244[b] 193[c] Seat change 18 25 Popular vote 18,998,545 14,865,807 Percentage 48.8% 38.2% Swing 4.3pp 4.7pp   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Hans-Dietrich Genscher Petra Kelly Party FDP Green Leader's seat North Rhine-Westphalia list Bavaria list Last election 10.6%, 53 seats 1.5%, 0 seats Seats won 34[d] 27[e] Seat change 19 27 Popular vote 2,706,942 2,167,431 Percentage 6.9% 5.6% Swing 3.7pp 4.1pp
The left side shows the winning party vote in the constituencies, the right side shows the seats won by parties in each of the states. The pie chart over West Berlin shows the partisan composition of its legislature.
Government before election First Kohl cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP Government after election Second Kohl cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP

Politics of Germany
Constitution (Basic Law) Federal Constitutional Court Human rights
Executive President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier (formerly SPD) Chancellor of Germany (list) Olaf Scholz (SPD) Vice Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck (Grüne) Cabinet Scholz Federal agencies
Legislature Bundestag constituencies Bundesrat Gemeinsamer Ausschuss Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung)
Judiciary Federal Constitutional Court Federal courts Ordinary Administrative Fiscal Labour Social Joint Senate Other courts
Subdivisions State (Land) Minister president State Parliament (Landtag) composition Regierungsbezirk District (Kreis) list Collective municipality (Amt) Municipality (Gemeinde) list
Elections Electoral system Political parties Referendums Coalitions Presidential elections Weimar Republic (1919–1933) 1919 1925 1932 East Germany (1949–1960) Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949) 1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2010 2012 2017 2022 Parliamentary election 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 2021 Next European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
State and Local Politics State Politics Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland Schleswig-Holstein
Foreign relations Foreign relations by country France Italy UK USA China Russia International Relations Politics of the European Union Visa Passport
Political Ideologies Political culture Communism Conservatism (Agrarian Conservatism) Far-right Liberalism
Germany portal Other countries
v t

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 6 March 1983 to elect the members of the 10th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU alliance led by Helmut Kohl remained the largest faction in parliament, with Kohl remaining Chancellor.

Issues and campaign[]

The SPD/FDP coalition under Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was returned to power in the 1980 West German federal election. The coalition parties grew more and more apart over economic policies. Schmidt asked for and won a motion of no confidence on 5 February 1982. The FDP cabinet ministers resigned on 17 September 1982 and the SPD formed a minority government. On 1 October, Schmidt and the SPD government were dismissed from office by a constructive vote of no confidence by the votes of the CDU/CSU Union parties and a majority of the FDP deputies in the Bundestag. The Leader of the Christian Democratic Union and Leader of the CDU/CSU Group in the Bundestag Helmut Kohl succeeded Schmidt. The new coalition had a majority in the Bundestag but early elections were arranged to legitimize it. Kohl did this by deliberately losing a vote of no confidence on 17 December 1982. Federal President Karl Carstens then dissolved the Bundestag and held new elections. The Federal Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the dissolution.

The FDP was split by its change of coalition partners. The party leadership under Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Otto Graf Lambsdorff drove the new policy, but they were rejected by a minority under Gerhart Baum, Günter Verheugen and . The FDP was defeated in the 1982 Hessian state election on 26 September 1982, losing half its voters by gaining only 3.1 percent of the vote and failing to enter the state parliament thanks to an SPD campaign against the FDP's "betrayal in Bonn". The FDP was defeated again and lost all of its seats in the 1982 Bavarian state election on 10 October 1982.

Helmut Schmidt renounced his chancellor candidacy and was replaced by former Federal Minister of Justice Hans-Jochen Vogel. The SPD encountered difficulties because of the emergence of the Greens. A major issue in this election was the armament question after the NATO Double-Track Decision.

Results[]

Party		Constituency			Party list			Total seatsa	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	15,686,033	40.4	68	14,865,807	38.2	125	193	−25
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)b	15,943,060	41.0	136	14,857,680	38.1	55	191	+17
	Christian Social Union (CSU)b	4,318,800	11.1	44	4,140,865	10.6	9	53	+1
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	1,087,918	2.8	0	2,706,942	6.9	34	34	−19
	The Greens (GRÜNE)c	1,609,855	4.1	0	2,167,431	5.6	27	27	+27
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	57,112	0.1	0	91,095	0.2	0	0	0
	German Communist Party (DKP)	96,143	0.2	0	64,986	0.2	0	0	0
	European Workers' Party (EAP)	7,491	0.0	0	14,966	0.0	0	0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	3,341	0.0	0	11,028	0.0	0	0	New
	Christian Bavarian People's Party (CBV)	2,068	0.0	0	10,994	0.0	0	0	0
	Communist Party of Germany/Marxists–Leninists (KPD/ML)	–	–	–	3,431	0.0	0	0	New
	Independent Social Democrats (USD)	450	0.0	0	3,333	0.0	0	0	New
	League of West German Communists (BWK)	686	0.0	0	2,129	0.0	0	0	0
	Independents and voter groups	31,996	0.1	0	–	–	–	0	0
Valid votes		38,845,353	98.9	–	38,940,687	99.1	–	–	–
Invalid/blank votes		434,176	1.1	–	338,841	0.9	–	–	–
Total votes		39,279,529	100.0	248	39,279,529	100.0	250	498	+1
Registered voters/turnout		44,088,935	89.1	–	44,088,935	89.1	–	–	–
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

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

^b – 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.

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

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, gaining 55.7% of the vote and 55.8% of the seats, 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.

Notes[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1983 Germany Bundestagswahl.

References[]

Sources[]

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos