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West German federal election, 1980

German federal election, 1980
West Germany
1976 ←
5 October 1980 (1980-10-05) → 1983

All 519 seats in the Bundestag
260 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout 88.6% (voting eligible)
  First party Second party Third party
  Franz Josef Strauß 1982.jpg Bundesarchiv Bild Helmut Schmidt 1975 cropped.jpg Bundesarchiv FDP-Bundesparteitag, Genscher.jpg
Leader Franz-Josef Strauss Helmut Schmidt Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP
Leader since 1961 (CSU only) – (chancellor since 1974) 1974
Last election 254 seats 224 seats 40
Seats won 237 228 54
Seat change Decrease17 Increase4 Increase14
Popular vote 16,897,659 16,260,677 4,030,999
Percentage 44.5% 42.9% 10.6%
Swing Decrease4.1% Increase0.3% Increase2.7%

West German Federal Election - Party list vote results by state - 1980.png

Party list election results by state: red denotes states where the SPD had the absolute majority of the votes; pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes; darker 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

Helmut Schmidt
SPD

Elected Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt
SPD


West German Federal Election - Party list vote results by state - 1980.png

Helmut Schmidt
SPD

Helmut Schmidt
SPD

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 5 October 1980, to elect members to the Bundestag (parliament) of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of the SPD-FDP coalition wanted to be re-elected. CDU/CSU tried to make their candidate the elected Chancellor, CSU leader Franz Josef Strauß. It was the first time that their candidate was from the CSU. Strauß, immensely popular in Bavaria, found it difficult to appeal to people in other parts of Germany. One important reason for Strauss's unpopularity compared to Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, was his tendency to talk sharply and militantly about his political opponents. Schmidt, by contrast, was still seen by many West German voters as a moderate and practical manager and doer, who focused on getting concrete political and economic results more than on political rhetoric (see, for example, Erling Bjöl, Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 22: From Peace to the Cold War, Helsinki: WSOY, 1984, pages 495, 497–499; Bjöl, Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West, Helsinki: WSOY, 1985, pages 353–356; Dennis L. Bark and David R. Gress, A History of West Germany: Volume 2: Democracy and Its Discontents, 1963–1988, "The Era of Macher [Doer]," London, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1989).


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