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 before German reunification.

1987 West German federal election

← 1983 25 January 1987 (1987-01-25) 1990
(reunification)
 →

All 497 seats in the Bundestag[a]
249 seats needed for a majority
Registered45,327,982 Increase 2.8%
Turnout38,225,294 (84.3%) Decrease 4.8pp
  First party Second party
 
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F074398-0021 Kohl (cropped).jpg
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F073494-0025, Bundespressekonferenz, Bundestagswahlkampf, Rau.jpg
Candidate Helmut Kohl Johannes Rau
Party CDU/CSU SPD
Last election 48.8%, 244 seats 38.2%, 193 seats
Seats won 223[b] 186[c]
Seat change Decrease 21 Decrease 7
Popular vote 16,761,572 14,025,763
Percentage 44.3% 37.0%
Swing Decrease 4.5pp Decrease 1.2pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F052010-0020, Kiel, FDP-Bundesparteitag, Bangemann.jpg
Petra Kelly, 1987 (cropped).jpg
Candidate Martin Bangemann Petra Kelly
Party FDP Greens
Last election 6.9%, 34 seats 5.6%, 27 seats
Seats won 46[d] 42[e]
Seat change Increase 12 Increase 15
Popular vote 3,440,911 3,126,256
Percentage 9.1% 8.3%
Swing Increase 2.2pp Increase 2.7pp

The left side shows the winning party vote in the constituencies, the right side shows the seats won by parties in each of the states. The pie chart over West Berlin shows the partisan composition of its legislature.

Government before election

Second Kohl cabinet
CDU/CSUFDP

Government after election

Third Kohl cabinet
CDU/CSUFDP

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.[citation needed] It was also unclear as to how they would form a government, as the Greens were divided over whether to take part in governments.[citation needed]

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

Results

 
PartyParty-listConstituencySeats
Votes%SeatsVotes%SeatsElectedWest BerlinTotal+/–
Social Democratic Party14,025,76337.0410714,787,95339.18791867193–9
Christian Democratic Union13,045,74534.455014,168,52737.5412417411185–17
Christian Social Union3,715,8279.8143,859,24410.234549049–4
Free Democratic Party3,440,9119.09461,760,4964.66046248+13
The Greens3,126,2568.26422,649,4597.02042244+16
National Democratic Party227,0540.600182,8800.4800000
Ecological Democratic Party109,1520.29040,7650.1100000
The Women62,9040.170000New
Bavaria Party26,3670.0708,0240.0200000
Responsible Citizens24,6300.0706110.000000New
Patriots for Germany22,7320.06027,3520.070000New
Centre Party19,0350.0504,0200.010000New
Marxist–Leninist Party of Germany13,4220.0405960.000000New
Christian Bavarian People's Party5,2820.0107410.0000000
All Social Insurants and Pensioners1,8340.0003,1510.010000New
Free German Workers' Party4050.0003490.000000New
Humanist Party7880.000000New
Solidarity7540.000000New
Independent Workers' Party3520.000000New
Family Party1300.000000New
Free Social Union1100.000000New
Independents and voter groups246,5110.6500000
Total37,867,319100.0024937,742,813100.0024849722519–1
Valid votes37,867,31999.0637,742,81398.74
Invalid/blank votes357,9750.94482,4811.26
Total votes38,225,294100.0038,225,294100.00
Registered voters/turnout45,327,98284.3345,327,98284.33
Source: Bundeswahlleiter
 
Seat results – SPD in red, Greens in green, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

Results by state

Constituency seats

State Total
seats
Seats won
CDU SPD CSU
Baden-Württemberg 37 36 1
Bavaria 45 45
Bremen 3 3
Hamburg 7 2 5
Hesse 22 14 8
Lower Saxony 31 18 13
North Rhine-Westphalia 71 33 38
Rhineland-Palatinate 16 11 5
Saarland 5 2 3
Schleswig-Holstein 11 8 3
Total 248 124 79 45

List seats

State Total
seats
Seats won
SPD CDU FDP Grüne CSU
Baden-Württemberg 37 21 9 7
Bavaria 42 24 7 7 4
Bremen 4 2 1 1
Hamburg 7 1 3 1 2
Hesse 23 10 5 4 4
Lower Saxony 32 13 8 6 5
North Rhine-Westphalia 72 24 25 12 11
Rhineland-Palatinate 16 7 4 3 2
Saarland 5 1 2 1 1
Schleswig-Holstein 11 6 1 2 2
Total 249 107 50 46 42 4

Aftermath

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.

Co-option of East German Volkskammer after reunification

Co-optation of Volkskammer members into the Bundestag
 
← 1987 3 October 1990 (1990-10-03) 1990 →

All 641 seats in the Bundestag
321 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Seats +/–
CDU Helmut Kohl 248 +63
CSU Theodor Waigel 49 0
SPD Hans-Jochen Vogel 226 +40
FDP Otto Graf Lambsdorff 57 +11
Greens Petra Kelly 51 +9
PDS Gregor Gysi 23 New
DSU Hansjoachim Walther 8 New
United Left Thomas Klein 1 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Government before Government after election
Third Kohl cabinet
CDU/CSUFDP
Third Kohl cabinet
CDU/CSUFDPDSU

In order to determine the composition of the East German representatives in the Bundestag between German reunification and the first post-reunification elections in December 1990, the results of the 1990 East German general election were recounted, using the new states of Germany as constituencies. This was possible since the original election results were declared on the Kreis level, and the states were re-established by simply amalgamating Kreise together. The results in each Kreis forming a state were summed up to determine the statewide result. The recount fixed the number of Volkskammer members from each party who would be co-opted into the Bundestag elected in 1987.[1] The 22 Non-voting representatives of West Berlin already became full voting members on 8 June 1990, in advance of unification.

Co-optation results

Seats

State Total
seats
Seats won
CDU SPD PDS FDP DSU B90/G VL
Brandenburg 22 8 7 4 1 1 1
Berlin Total 33 13 11 2 3 1 1
East 11 2 4 2 1 1 1
West 22 11 7 2 2
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 17 7 4 4 1 1
Saxony 43 20 7 6 3 5 2
Saxony-Anhalt 27 12 7 4 2 1 1
Thuringia 24 14 4 3 1 1 1
Total (East Germany Only) 144 63 33 23 9 8 7 1
Total (Including West Berlin) 166 74 40 23 11 8 9 1

Notes

References

Sources