1972 West German federal election
|
|
|
|
Registered
| 41,446,302
7.2%
|
---|
Turnout
| 37,761,589 (91.1%)
4.4
pp
|
---|
|
First party
|
Second party
|
Third party
|
|
|
|
|
Leader
|
Willy Brandt
|
Rainer Barzel
|
Walter Scheel
|
Party
|
SPD
|
CDU/CSU
|
FDP
|
Last election
|
42.7%, 224 seats
|
46.1%, 242 seats
|
5.8%, 30 seats
|
Seats won
|
230
[b]
|
225
[c]
|
41
[d]
|
Seat change
|
6
|
17
|
11
|
Popular vote
|
17,175,169
|
16,806,020
|
3,129,982
|
Percentage
|
45.8%
|
44.9%
|
8.4%
|
Swing
|
3.1pp
|
1.2pp
|
2.6pp
|
|
Results by constituency.
Gray
denotes seats won by the
CDU/CSU
, and
red
denotes those won by the
SPD
.
|
|
Federal elections
were held in
West Germany
on 19 November 1972 to elect the members of the 7th
Bundestag
. In the first
snap elections
since the resumption of democratic elections in 1949, the
Social Democratic Party
became the largest party in parliament for the first time since
1930
, winning 230 of the 496 seats. The coalition with the
Free Democratic Party
was resumed.
Campaign
[
edit
]
The
Social-liberal coalition
of
SPD
and
FDP
had lost its majority after several Bundestag MPs (like former FDP ministers
Erich Mende
and
Heinz Starke
or SPD partisan
Herbert Hupka
) had left their party and become members of the
CDU
/
CSU
opposition to protest against Chancellor
Willy Brandt's
Neue
Ostpolitik
, especially against the
de facto
recognition of the
Oder-Neisse line
by the 1970
Treaty of Warsaw
.
[
citation needed
]
On 27 April 1972 the opposition had tried to have CDU leader
Rainer Barzel
elected new chancellor in a
motion of no confidence
, but Barzel surprisingly missed the majority in the Bundestag by two votes. Rumours that at least one member of CDU/CSU faction had been paid by the East German
Stasi
intelligence service were confirmed by
Markus Wolf
, former head of the
Hauptverwaltung Aufklarung
, in 1997.
[
citation needed
]
Nevertheless, the following budget debates revealed that the government's majority was lost and only the upcoming organisation of the
1972 Summer Olympics
in
Munich
delayed the arrangement of new elections. On 22 September 1972 Chancellor Brandt deliberately lost a vote of confidence, allowing President
Gustav Heinemann
to dissolve the Bundestag the next day.
[
citation needed
]
In the tense campaign, the CDU/CSU attacked Brandt as being too lenient towards Eastern Europe and having the wrong ideas on the economy. SPD and FDP benefited from the enormous personal popularity of the chancellor, laureate of the 1971
Nobel Peace Prize
. He gained the support by numerous celebrities of the West German culture and media scene (e.g.
Gunter Grass
), expressed by the slogan
Willy wahlen!
("Vote for Willy!").
[
citation needed
]
Opinion polls
[
edit
]
Polling firm
|
Fieldwork date
|
Sample
size
|
Union
|
SPD
|
FDP
|
NPD
|
Others
|
Abstention
|
Lead
|
|
|
|
|
1972 federal election
|
19 Nov 1972
|
?
|
44.9
|
45.8
|
8.4
|
0.6
|
0.4
|
8.9
|
1.9
|
Emnid for SPIEGEL
|
Feb 1971
|
N/A
|
39
|
33
|
5
|
?
|
23
|
6
|
1969 federal election
|
19 Nov 1972
|
?
|
46.1
|
42.7
|
5.8
|
4.3
|
1.2
|
13.3
|
3.4
|
Results
[
edit
]
Voter turnout
was 91.1%, the highest ever since 1949. In 1970 the
voting age
had been lowered from 21 to 18.
|
---|
Party
| Party-list
| Constituency
| Seats
|
---|
Votes
| %
| Seats
| Votes
| %
| Seats
| Elected
| West Berlin
| Total
| +/?
|
---|
| Social Democratic Party
| 17,175,169
| 45.85
| 78
| 18,228,239
| 48.86
| 152
| 230
| 12
| 242
| +5
|
| Christian Democratic Union
| 13,190,837
| 35.21
| 112
| 13,304,813
| 35.67
| 65
| 177
| 9
| 186
| ?15
|
| Christian Social Union
| 3,615,183
| 9.65
| 17
| 3,620,625
| 9.71
| 31
| 48
| 0
| 48
| ?1
|
| Free Democratic Party
| 3,129,982
| 8.36
| 41
| 1,790,513
| 4.80
| 0
| 41
| 1
| 42
| +11
|
| National Democratic Party
| 207,465
| 0.55
| 0
| 194,389
| 0.52
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
| German Communist Party
| 113,891
| 0.30
| 0
| 146,258
| 0.39
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| European Federalist Party
| 24,057
| 0.06
| 0
| 7,581
| 0.02
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
| Free Social Union
| 3,166
| 0.01
| 0
| 1,864
| 0.00
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
| Independents
and voter groups
| | 9,497
| 0.03
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
Total
| 37,459,750
| 100.00
| 248
| 37,303,779
| 100.00
| 248
| 496
| 22
| 518
| 0
|
|
Valid votes
| 37,459,750
| 99.20
| | 37,303,779
| 98.79
| | |
---|
Invalid/blank votes
| 301,839
| 0.80
| | 457,810
| 1.21
| | |
---|
Total votes
| 37,761,589
| 100.00
| | 37,761,589
| 100.00
| | |
---|
Registered voters/turnout
| 41,446,302
| 91.11
| | 41,446,302
| 91.11
| | |
---|
Source:
Bundeswahlleiter
|
The SPD celebrated their best result ever, representing the largest faction in the German parliament for the first time since the
1930 Reichstag elections
. It enabled the party to nominate
Annemarie Renger
for
President of the Bundestag
; she was the first Social Democrat and also the first woman to hold this office.
Results by state
[
edit
]
Constituency seats
[
edit
]
List seats
[
edit
]
Post-election
[
edit
]
On 14 December 1972 the Bundestag MPs of the social-liberal coalition re-elected Willy Brandt chancellor. His
Cabinet Brandt II
returned to government the next day, again with FDP chairman
Walter Scheel
as vice-chancellor and foreign minister. Defeated Rainer Barzel resigned as CDU chairman on 9 May 1973; he was succeeded by
Helmut Kohl
.
On 7 May 1974, Brandt would resign in the course of the
Guillaume Affair
, after one of his personal aides had been unmasked as a
Stasi
agent. The coalition continued under his party fellow
Helmut Schmidt
, while Brandt remained SPD chairman until 1987.
Further reading
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]