1972 West German federal election

19 November 1972 (1972-11-19)

All 496 seats in the Bundestag[lower-alpha 1]
249 seats needed for a majority
Registered41,446,302 Increase 7.2%
Turnout37,761,589 (91.1%) Increase 4.4pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0130-303, Willy Brandt.jpg
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F038035-0007, Wiesbaden, CDU-Parteitag, Barzel (cropped).jpg
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1989-047-20, Walter Scheel.jpg
Leader Willy Brandt Rainer Barzel Walter Scheel
Party SPD CDU/CSU FDP
Last election 42.7%, 224 seats 46.1%, 242 seats 5.8%, 30 seats
Seats won 230[lower-alpha 2] 225[lower-alpha 3] 41[lower-alpha 4]
Seat change Increase 6 Decrease 17 Increase 11
Popular vote 17,175,169 16,806,020 3,129,982
Percentage 45.8% 44.9% 8.4%
Swing Increase 3.1pp Decrease 1.2pp Increase 2.6pp

Results of the 1972 West German federal election
Results by constituency. Gray denotes seats won by the
CDU/CSU, and red denotes those won by the SPD.

Government before election

First Brandt cabinet
SPDFDP

Government after election

Second Brandt cabinet
SPDFDP

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 19 November 1972 to elect the members of the 7th Bundestag. In the first snap elections since the resumption of democratic elections in 1949, the Social Democratic Party became the largest party in parliament for the first time since 1930, winning 230 of the 496 seats. The coalition with the Free Democratic Party was resumed.

Campaign

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.

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 motion of no confidence, but Barzel surprisingly missed the majority in the Bundestag by two votes. Rumours that at least one member of CDU/CSU faction had been paid by the East German Stasi intelligence service were confirmed by Markus Wolf, former head of the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung, in 1997. 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 deliberately lost a vote of confidence, allowing President Gustav Heinemann to dissolve the Bundestag the next day.

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!").

Opinion polls

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size
Union SPD FDP NPD Others Abstention Lead
1972 federal election 19 Nov 1972 44.9 45.8 8.4 0.6 0.4 8.9 1.9
Emnid for SPIEGEL Feb 1971 N/A 39 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.

PartyParty-listConstituencySeats
Votes%SeatsVotes%SeatsElectedWest BerlinTotal+/–
Social Democratic Party17,175,16945.857818,228,23948.8615223012242+5
Christian Democratic Union13,190,83735.2111213,304,81335.67651779186–15
Christian Social Union3,615,1839.65173,620,6259.713148048–1
Free Democratic Party3,129,9828.36411,790,5134.80041142+11
National Democratic Party207,4650.550194,3890.5200000
German Communist Party113,8910.300146,2580.390000New
European Federalist Party24,0570.0607,5810.0200000
Free Social Union3,1660.0101,8640.0000000
Independents and voter groups9,4970.0300000
Total37,459,750100.0024837,303,779100.00248496225180
Valid votes37,459,75099.2037,303,77998.79
Invalid/blank votes301,8390.80457,8101.21
Total votes37,761,589100.0037,761,589100.00
Registered voters/turnout41,446,30291.1141,446,30291.11
Source: 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

State Total
seats
Seats won
SPD CDU CSU
Baden-Württemberg 36 12 24
Bavaria 44 13 31
Bremen 3 3
Hamburg 8 8
Hesse 22 20 2
Lower Saxony 30 23 7
North Rhine-Westphalia 73 52 21
Rhineland-Palatinate 16 9 7
Saarland 5 3 2
Schleswig-Holstein 11 9 2
Total 248 152 65 31

List seats

State Total
seats
Seats won
CDU SPD FDP CSU
Baden-Württemberg 36 12 16 8
Bavaria 42 20 5 17
Bremen 1 1
Hamburg 8 5 1 2
Hesse 25 17 3 5
Lower Saxony 32 20 7 5
North Rhine-Westphalia 75 40 23 12
Rhineland-Palatinate 15 8 5 2
Saarland 3 2 1
Schleswig-Holstein 11 7 2 2
Total 248 112 78 41 17

Post-election

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. doi:10.1086/268668. JSTOR 2748609.

Notes

References

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