German federal election, 2002

German federal election, 2002

← 1998 22 September 2002 (2002-09-22) 2005 →
All 603 seats in the Bundestag 302 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	79.1% (voting eligible)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Gerhard Schröder Edmund Stoiber Joschka Fischer Party SPD CDU/CSU Green Leader since 1999 1999 (CSU only) Last election 298 245 47 Seats won 251 248 55 Seat change 47 3 8 Popular vote 18,488,668 18,482,641 4,110,355 Percentage 38.5% 38.5% 8.6% Swing 2.4% 3.3% 1.9%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Guido Westerwelle Gabi Zimmer Party FDP PDS Leader since 2001 2000 Last election 43 36 Seats won 47 2 Seat change 4 34 Popular vote 3,538,815 1,916,702 Percentage 7.4% 4.0% Swing 1.1% 1.1%
Party list election results by state: pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes; dark blue denotes states where CSU had the absolute majority of the votes; and lighter blue denotes states where CDU had the plurality of votes
Chancellor before election Gerhard Schröder SPD Elected Chancellor Gerhard Schröder SPD

Gerhard Schröder
SPD

Gerhard Schröder
SPD

German federal elections took place on 22 September 2002, to elect members to the 15th Bundestag (lower house) of Germany. Gerhard Schröder's centre-left "red-green" governing coalition retained a narrow majority.

Several issues dominated the campaign, with the opposition CDU/CSU attacking the government's performance on the economy which fell back into recession due to the Telecoms crash and the introduction of the euro. As well as campaigning on family values issues and against taxes (particularly on fuel). The government, on the other hand, was helped by broad support for its opposition to the Iraq War, continued media attention on the CDU funding scandal and by Gerhard Schröder's personal popularity relative to the opposition's candidate for Chancellor, CSU leader Edmund Stoiber.

Early in the campaign, Guido Westerwelle, leader of the Free Democrats, declared himself a "Chancellor Candidate," usually a title reserved for the main election leaders of the SPD and CDU/CSU. This was met with general derision.

Although the opposition gained seats, and the result was in doubt for most of the election night, the governing coalition retained a narrow majority. In particular, the SPD was able to partially offset declines in their vote share in the West with an increase in the East, with the PDS falling below both the 5% threshold and the 3-seat threshold, either of which is required to qualify a party for top-up seats. Consequently, the PDS held only two directly-elected seats.

The coalition between the SPD and the Greens continued in government with Gerhard Schröder as chancellor. However, due to the slim majority in the Bundestag, the governing coalition was not stable.