1994 German federal election

1994 German federal election

← 1990 16 October 1994 (1994-10-16) 1998 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 672 seats in the Bundestag 337 seats needed for a majority
Registered	60,452,009 0.0%
Turnout	47,737,999 (79.0%) 1.2pp
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Helmut Kohl Rudolf Scharping Ludger Volmer & Marianne Birthler Party CDU/CSU SPD Green Last election 43.8%, 319 seats 33.5%, 239 seats 5.1%, 8 seats[a] Seats won 294 252 49 Seat change 25 13 41 Popular vote 19,517,156 17,140,354 3,424,315 Percentage 41.4% 36.4% 7.3% Swing 2.4pp 2.9pp 2.2pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Candidate Klaus Kinkel Lothar Bisky Party FDP PDS Last election 11.0%, 79 seats 2.4%, 17 seats Seats won 47 30 Seat change 32 13 Popular vote 3,258,407 2,066,176 Percentage 6.9% 4.4% Swing 4.1pp 2.0pp
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 Fourth Kohl cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP Government after election Fifth 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 Germany on 16 October 1994 to elect the members of the 13th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU alliance led by Helmut Kohl remained the largest faction in parliament, with Kohl remaining Chancellor in a narrowly re-elected coalition with the FDP. This elected Bundestag was largest in history until 2017, numbering 672 members.

Even though this election did not lead to a switch in government, it saw the election of many people to the Bundestag that would play an important role later. Future CDU leaders Friedrich Merz and Armin Laschet were first elected to the Bundestag in 1994, as were future cabinet ministers Norbert Röttgen and Peter Altmaier. This was the last election until 2009 that a center-right government was elected.

Issues and campaign[]

The SPD let its members elect a candidate for Chancellor against Helmut Kohl after SPD leader Björn Engholm and Chancellor candidate-designate had to resign in 1993 amid scandal. Rudolf Scharping, Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, beat Gerhard Schröder and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul in the SPD's internal election. Scharping was only elected with 40 percent of the vote and relied on campaigning with other SPD leaders and rivals such as Oskar Lafontaine and Gerhard Schröder, both self-confident and outspoken, in a "troika". Tension between them greatly hurt his campaign.^[1] In addition, Scharping was seen as a weak leader due to his lack of charisma and media skills and therefore did not induce a lot of enthusiasm.^[2]

For the first time in their existence, Alliance 90/The Greens seemed to be willing to join a government in case a centre-left SPD–Greens coalition had a workable majority in the Bundestag.

The election also saw a "red socks" campaign used by the centre-right, including the CDU/CSU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), to scare off a possible red–red–green coalition (SPD–PDS–Greens). Analysts have stated that such a strategy likely paid off, as it was seen as one of the decisive elements for the narrow victory of Kohl for the CDU/CSU–FDP. The campaign was criticized as an obvious attempt to discredit the whole political left; the PDS reinterpreted it for itself by printing red socks.^[3]

Results[]

Party		Constituency			Party list			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	17,966,813	38.3	103	17,140,354	36.4	149	252	+13
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)a	17,473,325	37.2	177	16,089,960	34.2	67	244	−24
	Christian Social Union (CSU)a	3,657,627	7.8	44	3,427,196	7.3	6	50	−1
	Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE)b	3,037,902	6.5	0	3,424,315	7.3	49	49	+41
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	1,558,185	3.3	0	3,258,407	6.9	47	47	−32
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	1,920,420	4.1	4	2,066,176	4.4	26	30	+13
	The Republicans (REP)	787,757	1.7	0	875,239	1.9	0	0	0
	The Grays – Gray Panthers (GRAUE)	178,450	0.4	0	238,642	0.5	0	0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	200,138	0.4	0	183,715	0.4	0	0	0
	Natural Law Party (Naturgesetz)	59,087	0.1	0	73,193	0.2	0	0	New
	Human Environment Animal Protection	–	–	–	71,643	0.2	0	0	New
	Party of Bible-abiding Christians (PBC)	26,864	0.1	0	65,651	0.1	0	0	New
	Statt Party (STATT)	7,927	0.0	0	63,354	0.1	0	0	New
	Bavaria Party (BP)	3,324	0.0	0	42,491	0.1	0	0	0
	Car-drivers' and Citizens' Interests Party (APD)	1,654	0.0	0	21,533	0.0	0	0	New
	Christian Centre (CM)	3,559	0.0	0	19,887	0.0	0	0	0
	Party of the Willing to Work and Socially Vulnerable (PASS)	489	0.0	0	15,040	0.0	0	0	New
	Marxist-Leninist Party (MLPD)	4,932	0.0	0	10,038	0.0	0	0	0
	Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität (BüSo)c	8,032	0.0	0	8,103	0.0	0	0	0
	Christian League (Liga)	3,788	0.0	0	5,195	0.0	0	0	0
	Centre Party (ZENTRUM)	1,489	0.0	0	3,757	0.0	0	0	0
	Federation of Socialist Workers (BSA)	–	–	–	1,285	0.0	0	0	0
	Free Citizens' Union (FBU)	8,193	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	German Social Union (DSU)	2,395	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	German Communist Party (DKP)	693	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	German People's Party (DVP)	606	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Free Social Union (FSU)	467	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	Communist Party of Germany (KPD)	426	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	Independent Workers' Party (UAP)	302	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	Liberal Democrats (LD)	221	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Federation for a Complete Germany (BGD)	107	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Democrats (DEMOKRATEN)	104	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Independents and voter groups	34,080	0.1	0	–	–	–	0	0
Valid votes		46,949,356	98.3	–	47,105,174	98.7	–	–	–
Invalid/blank votes		788,643	1.7	–	632,825	1.3	–	–	–
Total votes		47,737,999	100.0	328	47,737,999	100.0	344	672	+10
Registered voters/turnout		60,452,009	79.0	–	60,452,009	79.0	–	–	–
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

^a – 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.

^b – totals for the Greens reflect the merger of the Western and Eastern Green parties.

^c – previously the Patriots for Germany (Patrioten für Deutschland, Patrioten).

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

Results by state[]

Second vote (Zweitstimme, or votes for party list)

State results in %	CDU/CSU	SPD	GRÜNE	FDP	PDS	REP	all others
Baden-Württemberg	43.3	30.7	9.6	9.9	0.8	3.1	2.6
Bavaria	51.2	29.6	6.3	6.4	0.5	2.8	3.2
Berlin	31.4	34.0	10.2	5.2	14.8	1.9	2.5
Brandenburg	28.1	45.1	2.9	2.6	19.3	1.1	0.9
Bremen	30.2	45.5	11.1	7.2	2.7	1.7	1.6
Hamburg	34.9	39.7	12.6	7.2	2.2	1.7	1.7
Hesse	40.7	37.2	9.3	8.1	1.1	2.4	1.2
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	38.5	28.8	3.6	3.4	23.6	1.2	0.9
Lower Saxony	41.3	40.6	7.1	7.7	1.0	1.2	1.1
North Rhine-Westphalia	38.0	43.1	7.4	7.6	1.0	1.3	1.6
Rhineland-Palatinate	43.8	39.4	6.2	6.9	0.6	1.9	1.2
Saarland	37.2	48.8	5.8	4.3	0.7	1.6	1.6
Saxony	48.0	24.3	4.8	3.8	16.7	1.4	1.0
Saxony-Anhalt	38.8	33.4	3.6	4.1	18.0	1.0	1.1
Schleswig-Holstein	41.5	39.6	8.3	7.4	1.1	1.0	1.1
Thuringia	41.0	30.2	4.9	4.1	17.2	1.4	1.2

Post-election[]

The coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP was able to continue in power with Helmut Kohl as chancellor.

The PDS won four constituency seats in its power base of the former East Berlin, qualifying it for proportional representation even though the party won 4.4 percent of the vote, just short of the 5% electoral threshold required for full parliamentary status. Under a longstanding electoral law intended to benefit regional parties, any party that wins at least three constituency seats is entitled to its share of proportionally-elected seats, regardless of vote share.^[4]

This was the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that the FDP was not the third largest party in the chamber.

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1994 Germany Bundestagswahl.

Sources[]

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos