The
7th German federal election, 1972, was conducted on 19 November 1972, to elect members to the
BundestagThe Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
(parliament) of the
Federal Republic of GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. It was the first
snap electionA snap election is an election called earlier than expected. Generally it refers to an election in a parliamentary system called when not required , usually to capitalize on a unique electoral opportunity or to decide a pressing issue...
in the country's history since 1949.
Issues and Campaign
The
Social-liberal coalitionSocial-liberal coalition in Germany refers to a governmental coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Free Democratic Party .The term stems from social democracy of the SPD and the liberalism of the FDP...
of
SPDThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
and
FDPThe Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
had lost its majority after several Bundestag MPs (like former FDP ministers
Erich MendeDr. Erich Mende was a German politician of the FDP and CDU. He was the leader of FDP 1960 - 1968.-Early life:Mende was born in Gross-Strehlitz, Upper Silesia,...
and
Heinz StarkeHeinz Starke was a German politician. He was born in Silesia. He was Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1961–62.-References:*...
or SPD partisan
Herbert HupkaHerbert Hupka was a German journalist and politician .Hupka was born in Diyatalawa, Sri Lanka, to a Silesian German Catholic professor Erich Hupka and a Jewish-German Lutheran mother Sara Rosenthal. Herbert Hupka raised in Ratibor, Upper Silesia...
) had left their party and become members of the
CDUThe Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
/
CSUThe Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
opposition to protest against Chancellor
Willy Brandt'sWilly Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
Neue OstpolitikNeue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...
, especially against the
de facto recognition of the
Oder-Neisse lineThe Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
by the 1970
Treaty of WarsawThe Treaty of Warsaw was a treaty between West Germany and the People's Republic of Poland. It was signed by Chancellor Willy Brandt and Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz at the Presidential Palace on 7 December 1970, and it was ratified by the German Bundestag on 17 May 1972.In the treaty, both...
.
On 27 April 1972 the opposition had tried to have CDU leader
Rainer BarzelRainer Candidus Barzel was a German politician of the CDU.Born in Braunsberg, East Prussia , Barzel served as Chairman of the CDU from 1971 and 1973 and ran as the CDU's candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 1972 federal elections, losing to Willy Brandt's SPD.The 1972 election is commonly...
elected new chancellor in a
motion of no confidenceA motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...
, 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
StasiThe Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
intelligence service were confirmed by
Markus WolfMarkus Johannes "Mischa" Wolf was head of the General Intelligence Administration , the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security . He was the MfS's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of the Cold War...
, 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 OlympicsThe 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
in
MunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
delayed the arrangement of new elections. On 22 September 1972 Chancellor Brandt deliberately failed in asking for a vote of confidence and made President
Gustav HeinemannGustav Walter Heinemann, GCB was a German politician. He was Mayor of the city of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, Minister of Justice from 1966 to 1969 and President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974.-Early years and professional...
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 profited from the enormous personal popularity of the chancellor, laureate of the 1971
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. He gained the support by numerous celebrities of the West German culture and media scene (e.g.
Günter GrassGünter Wilhelm Grass is a Nobel Prize-winning German author, poet, playwright, sculptor and artist.He was born in the Free City of Danzig...
), expressed by the slogan
Willy wählen! ("Vote for Willy!").
Results
The
voter turnoutVoter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 91.1%, the highest ever since 1949. In 1970 the
voting ageA voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain to be eligible to vote in a public election.The vast majority of countries in the world have established a voting age. Most governments consider that those of any age lower than the chosen threshold lack the necessary...
had been lowered from 21 to 18.
|
Party |
Party List votes |
Vote percentage (change) |
Total Seats (change) |
Seat percentage |
|
Social Democratic PartyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
|
17,175,169 |
45.8% |
+3.1% |
230 |
+6 |
46.4% |
|
Free Democratic Party The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
(FDP) |
3,129,982 |
8.4% |
+2.6% |
41 |
+11 |
8.3% |
|
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) |
13,190,837 |
35.2% |
-1.4% |
177 |
-16 |
35.7% |
|
Christian Social Union (CSU) |
3,615,183 |
9.6% |
+0.2% |
48 |
-1 |
9.7% |
|
All Others |
348,579 |
0.9% |
|
0 |
|
0.0% |
|
Totals |
37,459,750 |
100.0% |
|
496 |
+0 |
100.0% |
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 RengerAnnemarie Renger , , was a German politician for the “Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands” ....
for
President of the BundestagThe President of the Bundestag presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker in other countries. In the German order of precedence, his office is ranked second after the President and before the Chancellor...
, she was the first Social Democrat and also the first woman to hold this office.
Post-election
On 14 December 1972 the Bundestag MPs of the social-liberal coalition re-elected Willy Brandt chancellor. His
Cabinet Brandt IIThe Cabinet Brandt II was the government of Germany between 15 December 1972 and 16 May 1974, during the 7th legislature of the Bundestag. Led by the Social Democrat Willy Brandt, the cabinet was a coalition between the Social Democrats and the Free Democratic Party . It followed the Cabinet...
returned to government the next day, again with FDP chairman
Walter ScheelWalter Scheel is a German politician . He served as Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966, Foreign Minister of Germany and Vice Chancellor from 1969 to 1974, acting Chancellor of Germany from 7 May to 16 May 1974 , and finally as President of the Federal...
as vice-chancellor and foreign minister. Defeated Rainer Barzel resigned as CDU chairman on 9 May 1973, he was succeeded by
Helmut KohlHelmut Josef Michael Kohl is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1973 to 1998...
.
On 7 May 1974, Brandt would resign in the course of the
Guillaume AffairThe Guillaume Affair was an espionage scandal in the Cold War history of Germany. The scandal revolved around the exposure of an East German spy within the West German government and had far-reaching political repercussions in Germany, the most prominent being the resignation of West German...
, after one of his personal aides had been unmasked as a
Stasi agent. The coalition continued under his party fellow
Helmut SchmidtHelmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt is a German Social Democratic politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Prior to becoming chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting...
, while Brandt remained SPD chairman until 1987.
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