1972 West German federal election

none September 2022 West Germany parliamentary 1969 West German federal election 1969 List of members of the 6th Bundestag 1972 11 19 y List of members of the 7th Bundestag 1976 West German federal election 1976 All 496 seats in the BundestagAs well as the 22 non-voting delegates for West Berlin, elected by the West Berlin Legislature. 249 41,446,302 ( 7.2%) 91.1% ( 4.4 pp) 1 Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0130-303, Willy Brandt.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Willy Brandt Social Democratic Party of Germany 42.7%, 224 seats 230As well as 12 non-voting delegates for West Berlin. 6 17,175,169 45.8% 3.1 pp Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F038035-0007, Wiesbaden, CDU-Parteitag, Barzel (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Rainer Barzel CDU/CSU 46.1%, 242 seats 225As well as 9 non-voting delegates for West Berlin. 17 16,806,020 44.9% 1.2 pp Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1989-047-20, Walter Scheel.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Walter Scheel Free Democratic Party (Germany) 5.8%, 30 seats 41As well as 1 non-voting delegate for West Berlin. 11 3,129,982 8.4% 2.6 pp 1972 West German federal election.svg 400px 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 First Brandt cabinet SPD–FDP Government after election Second Brandt cabinet SPD–FDP A federal election was held in West Germany on 19 November 1972 to elect the members of the seventh Bundestag. In the first snap elections since the resumption of democratic elections in 1949, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) emerged as the largest party in parliament, winning 230 of the 496 seats. The SPD's Willy Brandt remained chancellor after resuming his coalition government with the Free Democratic Party. The SPD's vote share of 45.8% represents its best ever election result in the history of German elections and has not been achieved since.Germany's history of confidence votes in parliament https://www.dw.com/en/timeline-of-confidence-votes-in-german-parliament/a-70497575 dw.com en Campaign January 2014 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.January 2014 thumb|right|Barzel in victory pose at a CDU election rally in Cologne On 27 April 1972 the opposition had tried to have CDU leader Rainer Barzel elected new chancellor in a constructive vote of no confidence, but Barzel surprisingly missed the majority of 249 by two votes. Rumours that at least one member of the CDU/CSU faction had been paid by the East German Stasi to abstain (in effect, voting against Barzel) were confirmed by Markus Wolf, former head of the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung, in 1997.January 2014 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 asked for a vote of confidence, which required the same majority of 249 "yes" votes: it failed with 233 "yes" votes to 246 "no" votes. The members of the government did not participate (in effect, voting no) to ensure the vote would fail, however it would have regardless. This allowed Brandt to advise President Gustav Heinemann to dissolve the Bundestag and call new elections the same day.Wahl des deutschen Bundeskanzlers – Kanzlerwahl https://www.wahlrecht.de/lexikon/bundeskanzlerwahl.html Wahlrecht.de de-DE 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. Günter Grass), expressed by the slogan Willy wählen! ("Vote for Willy!").January 2014 Opinion polls Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize Union SPD FDP NPD Others Abstention Lead 1972 federal election 19 Nov 1972 – 44.86 45.85 8.4 0.6 0.4 8.9 0.99 Allensbach 1–7 Nov 1972 ?46.5 45.7 6.1 — 1.7 — 0.8 Allensbach 1–7 Oct 1972 ? 45.0 46.0 6.0 — 3.0 — 1 Emnid for SPIEGEL Feb 1971 N/A39 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 Voter turnout was 91.1%, the highest ever since 1949. In 1970 the voting age had been lowered from 21 to 18. Party-list Constituency Elected West Berlin Total +/– File:Bundestag 1972.svg Social Democratic Party 17175169 78 18228239 152 230 12 242 +5 Christian Democratic Union 13190837 112 13304813 65 177 9 186 –15 Christian Social Union 3615183 17 3620625 31 48 0 48 –1 Free Democratic Party 3129982 41 1790513 0 41 1 42 +11 National Democratic Party 207465 0 194389 0 0 0 0 0 German Communist Party 113891 0 146258 0 0 0 0 New European Federalist Party 24057 0 7581 0 0 0 0 0 #2D5CD0 Free Social Union 3166 0 1864 0 0 0 0 0 #15A1DD Independents and voter groups 9497 0 0 0 0 0 301839 457810 0 41446302 41446302 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 Constituency seats StateTotalseatsSeats wonSPDCDUCSUBaden-Württemberg361224Bavaria441331Bremen33Hamburg88Hesse22202Lower Saxony30237North Rhine-Westphalia735221Rhineland-Palatinate1697Saarland532Schleswig-Holstein1192Total2481526531 List seats StateTotalseatsSeats wonCDUSPDFDPCSUBaden-Württemberg3612168Bavaria4220517Bremen11Hamburg8512Hesse251735Lower Saxony322075North Rhine-Westphalia75402312Rhineland-Palatinate15852Saarland321Schleswig-Holstein11722Total248112784117 Post-election thumb|right|Election night: Brandt and Scheel declare victory at 10:20pm 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 Baker Kendall L. Norpoth Helmut 1981 Candidates on Television: The 1972 Electoral Debates in West Germany Public Opinion Quarterly 45 3 329–345 10.1086/268668 2748609 Notes References External links The Federal Returning Officer Psephos Category:Federal elections in Germany Federal Federal West Germany Category:November 1972 elections