1987 West German federal election

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 25 January 1987 to elect the members of the 11th Bundestag. This was the last federal election held in West Germany prior to German reunification.

1987 West German federal election
25 January 1987 (1987-01-25)
All 519 seats in the Bundestag
260 seats needed for a majority
Registered45,327,982 > 2.8%
Turnout38,225,294 (84.3%)[1]
4.8%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Helmut Kohl Johannes Rau
Party CDU/CSU SPD
Leader since 12 June 1973 [lower-alpha 1]
Leader's seat Rhineland-Palatinate North Rhine-Westphalia[lower-alpha 2]
Last election 255 seats, 48.8% 202 seats, 38.2%
Seats won 234 193
Seat change 21 9
Popular vote 16,761,572 14,025,763
Percentage 44.2% 37.0%
Swing 4.6% 1.2%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Martin Bangemann Petra Kelly
Party FDP Green
Leader since 23 February 1985
Leader's seat Baden-Württemberg Bavaria
Last election 35 seats, 6.9% 28 seats, 5.6%
Seats won 48 44
Seat change 13 16
Popular vote 3,440,911 3,126,256
Percentage 9.1% 8.3%
Swing 2.2% 2.7%
Results by state for the second votes. Light blue denotes states where the CDU/CSU won a plurality of votes; darker blue denotes states where CDU/CSU won an absolute majority of votes; pink denotes states where the SPD won a plurality of votes.
Chancellor before election

Helmut Kohl
CDU/CSU

 Elected Chancellor

Helmut Kohl
CDU/CSU

Issues and campaign

The SPD nominated Johannes Rau, their vice chairman and the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, as their candidate for Chancellor. However, the SPD suffered from internal divisions and competition with the Greens. It was also unclear as to how they would form a government, as the Greens were divided over whether to take part in governments.

One of the major issues in this election was the environment, after the Chernobyl disaster and other accidents.

Results
 Summary of the 25 January 1987 German Bundestag election results
Parties Constituency Party list Total seats
Votes % +/− Seats +/− Votes % +/− Seats +/− Seats† +/− %
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 14,787,953 39.2 −1.2 79 +11 14,025,763 37.0 −1.2 107 −18 193 −9 37.2
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 14,168,527 37.5 −3.5 124 −12 13,045,745 34.4 −3.7 50 −5 185 −17 35.6
Christian Social Union (CSU) 3,859,244 10.2 −0.9 45 +1 3,715,827 9.8 −0.8 4 −5 49 −4 9.4
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 1,760,496 4.7 +1.9 0 ±0 3,440,911 9.1 +2.2 46 +12 48 +13 9.2
The Greens‡ 2,649,459 7.0 +2.9 0 ±0 3,126,256 8.3 +2.7 42 +15 44 +16 8.5
National Democratic Party (NPD) 182,880 0.5 +0.4 0 ±0 227,054 0.6 +0.4 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) 40,765 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 109,152 0.3 +0.3 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
The Women (FRAUEN) – – – – – 62,904 0.2 +0.2 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Bavaria Party (BP) 8,024 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 26,367 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Responsible Citizens 611 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 24,630 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Patriots for Germany (Patrioten) 27,352 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 22,732 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Centre Party (ZENTRUM) 4,020 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 19,035 0.1 +0.1 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Marxist–Leninist Party (MLPD) 596 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 13,422 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Christian Bavarian People's Party (CBV) 741 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 5,282 0.0 ±0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
All Social Insurants and Pensioners (ASD) 3,151 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 1,834 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Free German Workers' Party (FAP) 349 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 405 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 0 ±0 0
Humanist Party (HP) 788 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
SOLIDARITÄT 754 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Independent Workers' Party (UAP) 352 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Family Party (Familie) 130 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Free Social Union (FSU) 110 0.0 +0.0 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Electoral groups and independents 246,511 0.7 +0.6 0 ±0 – – – – – 0 ±0 0
Invalid/blank votes 482,481 — — — — 357,975 — — — — — — —
Totals 38,225,294 100 ±0.0 248 ±0 38,225,294 100 ±0.0 249 –1 519 −1 ±0
Registered voters/turnout 45,327,982 84.3 — — — 45,327,982 84.3 — — — — — —
Source: Federal Returning Officer
^† — includes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (11 CDU, 7 SPD, 2 FDP, 2 AL).
^‡ — known as Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz (AL) in West Berlin.
↓
234 48 193 44
CDU/CSU FDP SPD Grüne
Popular Vote
CDU/CSU
 
 44.26%
SPD
 
 37.04%
FDP
 
 9.09%
GRÜNE
 
 8.26%
Other
 
 1.35%
Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU
 
 44.87%
SPD
 
 37.42%
FDP
 
 9.26%
GRÜNE
 
 8.45%
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, with Helmut Kohl as Chancellor. The Greens came into parliament for the second time and seemed to be established on federal level.

Notes
  1. Rau was the SPD's Chancellor candidate, but did not serve as party leader.
  2. Rau was elected on the SPD's North Rhine-Wesphalia list, but did not accept his mandate after the election.

References
  1. "Voter turnout by election year". Website of the Federal Returning Officer's Office. The Federal Returning Officer. Archived from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.

Sources
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