West German federal election, 1987

German federal election, 1987

← 1983 25 January 1987 (1987-01-25) 1990 (re-unification) →
All 519 seats in the Bundestag 260 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	84.3% (voting eligible)
First party Second party   Leader Helmut Kohl Johannes Rau Party CDU/CSU SPD Leader since 1973 – Last election 255 seats 202 seats Seats won 234 193 Seat change 21 9 Popular vote 16,761,572 14,025,763 Percentage 44.2% 37.0% Swing 4.6% 1.2%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Martin Bangemann Petra Kelly Party FDP Green Leader since 1985 Last election 35 seats 28 seats Seats won 48 44 Seat change 13 16 Popular vote 3,440,911 3,126,256 Percentage 9.1% 8.3% Swing 2.2% 2.7%
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

Helmut Kohl
CDU/CSU

Helmut Kohl
CDU/CSU

German federal elections took place on 25 January 1987, to elect members to the 11th Bundestag, the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany. This was the last federal election held in West Germany prior to German reunification.

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

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

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.