German federal election, 1994

German federal election, 1994

16 October 1994 (1994-10-16)
All 672 seats in the Bundestag 337 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	79.0% (voting eligible)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Helmut Kohl Rudolf Scharping Antje Vollmer Party CDU/CSU SPD Green Leader since 1973 1993 Last election 319 seats 239 seats 8 seats 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 2.4% 2.9% 2.3%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Klaus Kinkel Gregor Gysi Party FDP PDS Leader since 1993 1990 Last election 79 seats 17 seats Seats won 47 30 Seat change 32 13 Popular vote 3,258,407 2,066,176 Percentage 6.9% 4.4% Swing 4.1% 2.0%
Party list election results by state: dark blue denotes states where CSU had the absolute majority of the votes; lighter blue denotes states where CDU had the plurality of votes; and pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes
Chancellor before election Helmut Kohl CDU/CSU Elected Chancellor Helmut Kohl CDU/CSU

German federal elections took place on 16 October 1994, to elect members to the 13th Bundestag (parliament) of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Issues and campaign

The SPD let its members elect a candidate for Chancellor against Helmut Kohl. Rudolf Scharping, Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, beat Gerhard Schröder and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul in the SPD's internal election. Tension between Scharping and other SPD leaders such as Oskar Lafontaine and Gerhard Schröder hampered his campaign.

For the first time the Green party seemed to be willing to actually join a government in the event that a SPD – Green coalition had the majority.

Results

 Summary of 16 October 1994 German Bundestag election results

Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Seats	+/−	%
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	17,966,813	38.3	+3.1	103	+12	17,140,354	36.4	+2.9	149	+1	252	+13	37.5
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	17,473,325	37.2	−1.1	177	−15	16,089,960	34.2	−2.5	67	−9	244	−24	36.3
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	3,657,627	7.8	+0.4	44	+1	3,427,196	7.3	+0.2	6	−2	50	−1	7.4
	Alliance '90/The Greens	3,037,902	6.5	+0.9	0	±0	3,424,315	7.3	+2.3	49	+41	49	+41	7.3
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	1,558,185	3.3	−4.5	0	−1	3,258,407	6.9	−4.1	47	−31	47	−32	7.0
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	1,920,420	4.1	+1.8	4	+3	2,066,176	4.4	+2.0	26	+10	30	+13	4.5
	The Republicans (REP)	787,757	1.7	±0	0	±0	875,239	1.9	−0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	The Grays – Gray Panthers (GRAUE)	178,450	0.4	−0.1	0	±0	238,642	0.5	−0.3	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	200,138	0.4	−0.1	0	±0	183,715	0.4	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Natural Law Party (Naturgesetz)	59,087	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	73,193	0.2	+0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Animal Protection Party	–	–	–	–	–	71,643	0.2	+0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Party of Bible-abiding Christians (PBC)	26,864	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	65,651	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Statt Party (STATT)	7,927	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	63,354	0.1	+0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Bavaria Party (BP)	3,324	0.0	±0	0	±0	42,491	0.1	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Car-drivers' and Citizens' Interests Party (APD)	1,654	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	21,533	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Christian Centre (CM)	3,559	0.0	±0	0	±0	19,887	0.0	−0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Party of the Willing to Work and Socially Vulnerable (PASS)	489	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	15,040	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD)	4,932	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	10,038	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Solidarity (BüSo)	8,032	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	8,103	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Christian League (Liga)	3,788	0.0	±0	0	±0	5,195	0.0	−0.1	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Centre Party (Zentrum)	1,489	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	3,757	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Federation of Socialist Workers (BSA)	–	–	–	–	–	1,285	0.0	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Free Citizens' Union (FBU)	8,193	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	German Social Union (DSU)	2,395	0.0	−0.3	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	German Communist Party (DKP)	693	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	DVP	606	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Free Social Union (FSU)	467	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Communist Party of Germany (KPD)	426	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Independent Workers' Party (UAP)	302	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Liberal Democrats (LD)	221	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Federation for a Complete Germany (BGD)	107	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Democrats (DEMOKRATEN)	104	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Electoral groups and independents	34,080	0.1	±0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
Invalid/blank votes		788,643	—	—	—	—	632,825	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Totals		47,737,999	100	±0.0	328	±0	47,737,999	100	±0.0	344	+10	672	+10	±0
Registered voters/turnout		60,452,009	79.0	—	—	—	60,452,009	79.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
Source: Federal Returning Officer

^† — totals for the Greens reflect the merger of the Western and Eastern Green parties.

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

↓

294	252	49	47	30
CDU/CSU	SPD	Grüne	FDP	PDS

Popular Vote
CDU/CSU			41.43%
SPD			36.39%
B'90/GRÜNE			7.27%
F.D.P.			6.92%
PDS			4.39%
REP			1.86%
Other			1.75%

Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU			43.75%
SPD			37.50%
B'90/GRÜNE			7.29%
F.D.P.			6.99%
PDS			4.46%

Post-election

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

The PDS was able to gain four direct seats and was therefore eligible for full caucus status and proportional representation even though it remained below the 5% margin.

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos