1969 West German federal election

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 28 September 1969 to elect the members of the 6th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU remained the largest faction and the Social Democratic Party remained the largest single party in the Bundestag, winning 237 of the 518 seats. After the election, the SPD formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party and SPD leader Willy Brandt became Chancellor.

1969 West German federal election

← 1965 28 September 1969 (1969-09-28) 1972 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 496 seats in the Bundestag[a] 249 seats needed for a majority
Registered	38,677,235 0.4%
Turnout	33,523,064 (86.7%) 0.1pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Kurt Georg Kiesinger Willy Brandt Walter Scheel Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Last election 47.6%, 245 seats 39.3%, 202 seats 9.5%, 49 seats Seats won 242[b] 224[c] 30[d] Seat change 3 22 19 Popular vote 15,195,187 14,065,716 1,903,422 Percentage 46.1% 42.7% 5.8% Swing 1.5pp 3.4pp 3.7pp
Results by constituency. Gray denotes seats won by the CDU/CSU, and red denotes those won by the SPD.
Government before election Kiesinger cabinet CDU/CSU–SPD Government after election First Brandt cabinet SPD–FDP

The federal election resulted in the election of the first ever SPD Chancellor in West Germany Willy Brandt.

Campaign

Upon the resignation of Chancellor Ludwig Erhard on 1 December 1966, a grand coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats had governed West Germany under Federal Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) with SPD chairman Willy Brandt as vice-chancellor and foreign minister.

Economics Minister Karl Schiller (SPD) had proposed revaluing (increasing the external value of) the Deutsche Mark, West Germany's currency, to reduce the country's inflation rate and the rate of growth of the country's businesses' income. He also wanted to reduce West Germany's economic dependence on the exports. However, his counterpart Finance Minister Franz-Josef Strauss (CSU) rejected the Deutsche Mark's revaluation, because his strong constituents, the Bavarian farmers, also opposed it. After all, the European Economic Community's foodstuffs prices were paid in US dollars, and the Deutsche Mark's revaluation would have made them less favourable for the West German farmers (i.e. more expensive for other Western Europeans to buy).

The coalition effectively ended already before the regular 1969 Bundestag elections, because of this revaluation conflict. In addition, enough West German voters were at last willing to give the Social Democratic leader, Foreign Minister Willy Brandt, a chance to govern West Germany. Brandt, who ran for the third time after 1961 and 1965, had shown sympathy towards those groups, like left-wing intellectuals and activists of the German student movement, who had felt ignored by the Christian Democrat-led coalition governments. In addition, his clear intellect, remarkable self-control and honest manner appealed to ordinary West Germans.^[1][2][3]

Results

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Elected	West Berlin	Total	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	14,065,716	42.67	97	14,402,374	44.03	127	224	13	237	+20
	Christian Democratic Union	12,079,535	36.64	106	12,137,148	37.10	87	193	8	201	–1
	Christian Social Union	3,115,652	9.45	15	3,094,176	9.46	34	49	0	49	0
	Free Democratic Party	1,903,422	5.77	30	1,554,651	4.75	0	30	1	31	–19
	National Democratic Party	1,422,010	4.31	0	1,189,375	3.64	0	0	0	0	0
	Campaign for Democratic Progress	197,331	0.60	0	209,180	0.64	0	0	0	0	New
	Bavaria Party	49,694	0.15	0	54,940	0.17	0	0	0	0	New
	European Federalist Party	49,650	0.15	0	20,927	0.06	0	0	0	0	0
	All-German Party	45,401	0.14	0				0	0	0	New
	Free Social Union	16,371	0.05	0	10,192	0.03	0	0	0	0	0
	Centre Party	15,933	0.05	0				0	0	0	New
	Independent Workers' Party	5,309	0.02	0	1,531	0.00	0	0	0	0	0
	German People's Party				461	0.00	0	0	0	0	New
	Independents and voter groups				38,561	0.12	0	0	0	0	0
Total		32,966,024	100.00	248	32,713,516	100.00	248	496	22	518	0
Valid votes		32,966,024	98.34		32,713,516	97.59
Invalid/blank votes		557,040	1.66		809,548	2.41
Total votes		33,523,064	100.00		33,523,064	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		38,677,235	86.67		38,677,235	86.67
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

Results by state

Constituency seats

State	Total seats	Seats won
		SPD	CDU	CSU
Baden-Württemberg	36	9	27
Bavaria	44	10		34
Bremen	3	3
Hamburg	8	8
Hesse	22	20	2
Lower Saxony	30	18	12
North Rhine-Westphalia	73	47	26
Rhineland-Palatinate	16	6	10
Saarland	5	2	3
Schleswig-Holstein	11	4	7
Total	248	127	87	34

List seats

State	Total seats	Seats won
		CDU	SPD	FDP	CSU
Baden-Württemberg	34	10	18	6
Bavaria	40		21	4	15
Bremen	2	2
Hamburg	9	6	2	1
Hesse	24	17	4	3
Lower Saxony	33	18	11	4
North Rhine-Westphalia	78	43	26	9
Rhineland-Palatinate	15	6	7	2
Saarland	3	1	2
Schleswig-Holstein	10	3	6	1
Total	248	106	97	30	15

Aftermath

Brandt speaks to the press on election night, 28 September

Willy Brandt, against the will of several party fellows like Herbert Wehner or Helmut Schmidt, chose to leave the grand coalition with the CDU/CSU, forming a social-liberal coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) instead. On 21 October 1969 he was elected Chancellor of Germany, the first SPD chancellor in the postwar period, after the last Social Democrat holding this position had been Hermann Müller from 1928 to 1930. FDP chairman Walter Scheel succeeded Brandt as vice-chancellor and foreign minister. Brandt's government proceeded with the revaluation Schiller had proposed, raising the value of the mark by 9.3% in late October.^[4]

Disappointed Kiesinger bitterly complained about the faithless liberals. Though he had again achieved the plurality of votes for the CDU, he had to lead his party into opposition. He was succeeded as chairman by Rainer Barzel in 1971.

However the Cabinet Brandt I could only rely on an absolute majority (Kanzlermehrheit) of twelve votes in the Bundestag. Several party switches in protest against Brandt's Ostpolitik of FDP and SPD members resulted in the snap election of 1972.

Notes

1. As well as the 22 non-voting delegates for West Berlin, elected by the West Berlin Legislature.
2. As well as 8 non-voting delegates for West Berlin.
3. As well as 13 non-voting delegates for West Berlin.
4. As well as 1 non-voting delegates for West Berlin.

References

1. Bjöl, Erling (1984). Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 22: From Peace to the Cold War. Helsinki: WSOY. p. 491.
2. Bjöl, Erling. Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West. pp. 345–347.
3. Bark, Dennis L.; Gress, David R. (1989). A History of West Germany, volume 2: Democracy and Its Discontents, 1963–1988. London, UK: Basil Blackwell.
4. Brenner, Robert (2006). The Economics of Global Turbulence: The Advanced Capitalist Economies from Long Boom to Long Downturn, 1945-2005. Verso. p. 126. ISBN 9781859847305.