ELECTIONS HELD IN 1990
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| Chamber: | |
| Deutscher Bundestag | |
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| 2 December 1990 | |
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| Polling was held for all the seats in the Bundestag in the first all-German general elections since reunification on 3 October 1990. | |
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| The day after German reunification on 3 October 1990, the first session of the enlarged (from 519 to 663 members) Bundestag was held in Berlin. The date of the Bundestag poll had been set on 13 August.
Main contenders for the 662 Bundestag seats at stake on 2 December were the federal Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - Christian Social Union (CSU) - Free Democrats (FDP) coalition headed by Federal Chancellor Helmuth Kohl, who had been elected Chairman on 1 October upon merger of the East and West German CDU parties; and the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by Mr. Oskar Lafontaine. The electoral campaign was dominated by reunification issues, particularly economic consequences thereof, as well as foreign policy questions and the contrasting personalities of the two candidates for Chancellor. The ruling coalition stressed patriotic themes and its role in achieving peaceful reunification, while the SPD warned of pending problems (such as a raise in taxes) stemming from the costs of rehabilitating the eastern German economy after reunification. These were acknowledged by the coalition but characterized as manageable through budget cuts, State borrowing and hard work. The SPD furthermore focussed on social and environmental issues. On polling day, the CDU emerged on top with 268 seats to 239 for the SPD, although the governing partners’ overall total (398) gave it an absolute Bundestag majority taking into account the CSU (CDU’s Bavarian sister party) and FDP numbers. All leading parties improved their positions at the expense of the western Greens, who lost all the seats they had occupied since they obtained less than the 5% vote required for parliamentary re-presentation. The only other successful groups were the Alliance 90/Greens and the successor to the East German Communist Party, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). On 20 December, the newly elected Bundestag held its inaugural session. On 17 January 1991, Mr. Kohl (CDU) was re-elected Chancellor and the new Cabinet (comprising 11 CDU, 4 CSU and 5 FDP members) was sworn in the following day. |
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STATISTICS
| Round no 1 (2 December 1990): Elections results | |
| Number of registered electors | 60,436,560 |
| Voters | 46,995,915 (77.8%) |
| Blank or void “first votes” | 720,990 |
| Valid “first votes” | 46,274,925 |
| Blank or void “second votes” | 540,143 |
| Valid “second votes” | 46,455,772 |
| Round no 1: Distribution of votes | |||
| Political Group | “Second votes” obtained | % | |
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 17,055,116 | 36.7 | |
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 15,545,366 | 33.5 | |
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 5,123,223 | 11.0 | |
| Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) | 3,302,980 | 7.1 | |
| Green Party (Grüne) | 1,788,200 | 3.8 | |
| Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) | 1,129,578 | 2.4** | |
| Alliance 90/The Greens (B’90/Die Grünen) | 559,207 | 1.2** | |
| Round no 1: Distribution of seats | |||
| Political Group | Total | Gain/Loss* | |
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 268*** | +83 | |
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 239 | 46 | |
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 79 | +31 | |
| Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) | 51 | +2 | |
| Green Party (Grüne) | 0 | -44 | |
| Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) | 17 | +17 | |
| Alliance 90/The Greens (B’90/Die Grünen) | 8 | +8 | |
| Comments: | |
| * Previous elections held in 1987, when Germany was still divided and results refer to the the FRG. ** Obtained more than 5% on the territory of the former GDR. *** Six “surplus” seats were allotted in the 1990 elections |
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| Distribution of seats according to sex: | |
| Men: | 526 |
| Women: | 136 |
| Distribution of seats according to age (by birth year): | ||
| 1911-1915 | 1 | |
| 1916-1920 | 1 | |
| 1921-1925 | 6 | |
| 1926-1930 | 62 | |
| 1931-1935 | 82 | |
| 1936-1940 | 171 | |
| 1941-1945 | 160 | |
| 1946-1950 | 92 | |
| 1951-1955 | 49 | |
| 1956-1960 | 27 | |
| 1961-1965 | 9 | |
| 1966-1970 | 2 | |
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| Civil servants, judges, military, elected civil servants | 104 | |
| Teachers, college/university lecturers | 89 | |
| Members of independent professions | 73 | |
| Self-employed | 66 | |
| Employees in industry | 65 | |
| Members of political and social organizations | 64 | |
| Holders of Government posts | 52 | |
| Public servants | 47 | |
| Housewives | 13 | |
| Clergy | 12 | |
| Others | 77 | |
Copyright © 1990 Inter-Parliamentary Union