1980 West German federal election

1980 West German federal election

← 1976 5 October 1980 (1980-10-05) 1983 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 497 seats in the Bundestag[a] 249 seats needed for a majority
Registered	43,231,741 2.8%
Turnout	38,292,176 (88.6%) 2.1 pp
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Franz-Josef Strauss Helmut Schmidt Hans-Dietrich Genscher Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Last election 48.6%, 243 seats 42.6%, 214 seats 7.9%, 39 seats Seats won 226[b] 218[c] 53[d] Seat change 17 4 14 Popular vote 16,897,659 16,260,677 4,030,999 Percentage 44.5% 42.9% 10.6% Swing 4.1 pp 0.3 pp 2.7 pp
The left side shows the winning party vote in the constituencies, the right side shows the seats won by parties in each of the states. The pie chart over West Berlin shows the partisan composition of its legislature.
Government before election Second Schmidt cabinet SPD–FDP Government after election Third Schmidt cabinet SPD–FDP

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of Germany
Constitution (Basic Law) Federal Constitutional Court Human rights
Head of State President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD)
Executive Chancellor of Germany (list) Olaf Scholz (SPD) Vice Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck (Grüne) Cabinet Scholz Federal agencies
Legislature Bundestag constituencies members Bundesrat Vermittlungsausschuss Gemeinsamer Ausschuss
Judiciary Federal Constitutional Court Federal courts Ordinary Administrative Fiscal Labour Social Joint Senate Other courts
Subdivisions State (Land) Minister president State Parliament (Landtag) composition Regierungsbezirk District (Kreis) list Collective municipality (Amt) Municipality (Gemeinde) list
Elections Electoral system Political parties Referendums Coalitions Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung) Presidential elections Weimar Republic (1919–1933) 1919 1925 1932 East Germany (1949–1960) 1949 1953 1957 Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949) 1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2010 2012 2017 2022 Parliamentary election 1867 (Feb) 1867 (Aug) 1868 1871 1874 1877 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1898 1903 1907 1912 1919 1920 1924 (May) 1924 (Dec) 1928 1930 1932 (July) 1932 (Nov) 1933 (Mar) 1933 (Nov) 1936 1938 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1998 2002 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025 European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
State and local politics State Politics Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thuringia
Foreign relations Foreign relations by country France Italy UK USA China Russia International Relations Politics of the European Union Visa Passport
Political ideologies Political culture / Federalism Communism Conservatism (Agrarian Conservatism) Far-right Liberalism Social Democracy
Germany portal Politics portal Other countries
v t e

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 5 October 1980 to elect the members of the 9th Bundestag. Although the CDU/CSU remained the largest faction in parliament, Helmut Schmidt of the Social Democratic Party remained Chancellor.

Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of the SPD-FDP coalition wanted to be re-elected. The 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.^[1][2][3]

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Elected	West Berlin	Total	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	16,260,677	42.86	91	16,808,861	44.46	127	218	10	228	+4
	Christian Democratic Union	12,989,200	34.24	93	13,467,207	35.62	81	174	11	185	–16
	Free Democratic Party	4,030,999	10.62	53	2,720,480	7.20	0	53	1	54	+14
	Christian Social Union	3,908,459	10.30	12	3,941,365	10.43	40	52	0	52	–1
	The Greens	569,589	1.50	0	732,619	1.94	0	0	0	0	New
	German Communist Party	71,600	0.19	0	107,158	0.28	0	0	0	0	0
	National Democratic Party	68,096	0.18	0				0	0	0	0
	Citizens' Party	11,256	0.03	0	507	0.00	0	0	0	0	New
	People's Front Against Reaction, Fascism and War	9,319	0.02	0	7,160	0.02	0	0	0	0	New
	Communist League of West Germany	8,174	0.02	0	12,008	0.03	0	0	0	0	0
	European Workers' Party	7,666	0.02	0	4,992	0.01	0	0	0	0	0
	Christian Bavarian People's Party	3,946	0.01	0				0	0	0	0
	German Union				421	0.00	0	0	0	0	New
	Independent Workers' Party				159	0.00	0	0	0	0	0
	German Freedom Party				96	0.00	0	0	0	0	New
	Independents and voter groups				3,498	0.01	0	0	0	0	0
Total		37,938,981	100.00	249	37,806,531	100.00	248	497	22	519	+1
Valid votes		37,938,981	99.08		37,806,531	98.73
Invalid/blank votes		353,115	0.92		485,645	1.27
Total votes		38,292,096	100.00		38,292,176	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		43,231,741	88.57		43,231,741	88.57
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

The coalition between the SPD and the FDP returned to government, with Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor. In 1982, the FDP quit the government, which led to the government's collapse and replacement with a new CDU/CSU – FDP coalition under Helmut Kohl.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1980 Germany Bundestagswahl.

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos