1969 West German federal election

none September 2022 West Germany parliamentary 1965 West German federal election 1965 List of members of the 5th Bundestag 1969 09 28 y List of members of the 6th Bundestag 1972 West German federal election 1972 All 496 seats in the BundestagAs well as the 22 non-voting delegates for West Berlin, elected by the West Berlin Legislature. 249 38,677,235 0.4% 33,523,064 (86.7%) 0.1pp 1 Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F029561-0008, Essen, CDU-Bundestagswahlkongress (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Kurt Georg Kiesinger CDU/CSU 47.6%, 245 seats 242As well as 8 non-voting delegates for West Berlin. 3 15,195,187 46.1% 1.5 pp Aankomst en vertrek, ministers, portretten, Bestanddeelnr 922-6063 (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Willy Brandt Social Democratic Party of Germany 39.3%, 202 seats 224As well as 13 non-voting delegates for West Berlin. 22 14,065,716 42.7% 3.4 pp Walter Scheel 1971 (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Walter Scheel Free Democratic Party (Germany) 9.5%, 49 seats 30As well as 1 non-voting delegate for West Berlin. 19 1,903,422 5.8% 3.7 pp 1969 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 Kiesinger cabinet CDU/CSU–SPD Government after election First Brandt cabinet SPD–FDP A federal election was held in West Germany on 28 September 1969 to elect the members of the 6th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU remained the largest faction and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) remained the largest single party in the Bundestag, winning 237 of the 518 seats. After the election, the SPD formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the former's leader Willy Brandt became the first Social Democratic Chancellor in West Germany's history, bringing an end to 20 years of CDU/CSU rule. Campaign After the resignation of Chancellor Ludwig Erhard on 1 December 1966, a grand coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats had governed West Germany under Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU), with SPD chairman Willy Brandt as vice-chancellor and foreign minister. Minister of Economic Affairs Karl Schiller (SPD) had proposed revaluing (increasing the external value of) the Deutsche Mark, West Germany's currency, to reduce the country's inflation rate and the rate of growth of the country's businesses' income. He also sought to reduce West Germany's economic dependence on the exports. However, Finance Minister Franz-Josef Strauss (CSU) rejected the Deutsche Mark's revaluation because Bavarian farmers, an important part of his constituency, opposed it. The European Economic Community's food commodity prices were paid in U.S. dollars, and the Deutsche Mark's revaluation would have made West German exports less competitive (i.e. more expensive for other Western Europeans to buy). The coalition had already effectively ended before the election because of the revaluation dispute. In addition, enough West German voters were willing to give the Social Democratic leader, Foreign Minister Willy Brandt, a chance to govern West Germany. Brandt, who ran for the third time after 1961 and 1965, had shown sympathy towards groups, including left-wing intellectuals and activists of the German student movement, who had felt ignored by the Christian Democrat-led coalition governments. In addition, his intellect, self-control and reputation for honesty appealed to ordinary West Germans. Bjöl Erling Erling Bjöl Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 22: From Peace to the Cold War WSOY 1984 Helsinki 491 Bjöl Erling Erling Bjöl Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West 345–347 Bark Dennis L. Dennis L. Bark Gress David R. David R. Gress A History of West Germany, volume 2: Democracy and Its Discontents, 1963–1988 Basil Blackwell 1989 London, UK Results Party-list Constituency Elected West Berlin Total +/– File:Bundestag 1969.svg Social Democratic Party 14065716 97 14402374 127 224 13 237 +20 Christian Democratic Union 12079535 106 12137148 87 193 8 201 –1 Christian Social Union 3115652 15 3094176 34 49 0 49 0 Free Democratic Party 1903422 30 1554651 0 30 1 31 –19 National Democratic Party 1422010 0 1189375 0 0 0 0 0 Campaign for Democratic Progress 197331 0 209180 0 0 0 0 New Bavaria Party 49694 0 54940 0 0 0 0 New European Federalist Party 49650 0 20927 0 0 0 0 0 #2D5CD0 All-German Party 45401 0 0 0 0 New Free Social Union 16371 0 10192 0 0 0 0 0 #15A1DD Centre Party 15933 0 0 0 0 New Independent Workers' Party 5309 0 1531 0 0 0 0 0 German People's Party 461 0 0 0 0 New Independents and voter groups 38561 0 0 0 0 0 557040 809548 0 38677235 38677235 Bundeswahlleiter Results by state Constituency seats StateTotalseatsSeats wonSPDCDUCSUBaden-Württemberg36927Bavaria441034Bremen33Hamburg88Hesse22202Lower Saxony301812North Rhine-Westphalia734726Rhineland-Palatinate16610Saarland523Schleswig-Holstein1147Total2481278734 List seats StateTotalseatsSeats wonCDUSPDFDPCSUBaden-Württemberg3410186Bavaria4021415Bremen22Hamburg9621Hesse241743Lower Saxony3318114North Rhine-Westphalia7843269Rhineland-Palatinate15672Saarland312Schleswig-Holstein10361Total248106973015 Aftermath thumb|right|Brandt speaks to the press on election night, 28 September Willy Brandt, against the will of several party fellows like Herbert Wehner or Helmut Schmidt, chose to leave the grand coalition with the CDU/CSU, forming a social-liberal coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) instead. On 21 October 1969 he was elected Chancellor of Germany, the first SPD chancellor in the postwar period, after the last Social Democrat holding this position had been Hermann Müller from 1928 to 1930. FDP chairman Walter Scheel succeeded Brandt as vice-chancellor and foreign minister. Brandt's government proceeded with the revaluation Schiller had proposed, raising the value of the mark by 9.3% in late October.9781859847305 The Economics of Global Turbulence: The Advanced Capitalist Economies from Long Boom to Long Downturn, 1945-2005 https://books.google.com/books?id=MdzRuGutydYC&pg=PA126 Brenner Robert 2006 126 Verso Disappointed Kiesinger bitterly complained about the faithless liberals. Though he had again achieved the plurality of votes for the CDU, he had to lead his party into opposition. He was succeeded as chairman by Rainer Barzel in 1971. However the Cabinet Brandt I could only rely on an absolute majority (Kanzlermehrheit) of twelve votes in the Bundestag. Several party switches in protest against Brandt's Ostpolitik of FDP and SPD members resulted in the snap election of 1972. Notes References Category:Federal elections in Germany Category:1969 elections in Germany Category:1969 in West Germany Category:September 1969 in Europe Category:Kurt Georg Kiesinger