1990 German federal election

1990 German federal election

← West 1987 ← East 1990 2 December 1990 (1990-12-02) 1994 →
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All 662 seats in the Bundestag 332 seats needed for a majority
Registered	60,436,560 ( 33.3%)
Turnout	77.8% ( 6.5 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Helmut Kohl Oskar Lafontaine Otto Graf Lambsdorff Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Last election 44.3%, 223 seats 37.0%, 186 seats 9.1%, 46 seats Seats before 297[a] 226 57 Seats won 319 239 79 Seat change 14 13 22 Popular vote 20,358,096 15,545,366 5,123,233 Percentage 43.8% 33.5% 11.0% Swing 0.5 pp 3.5 pp 1.9 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   B90 Candidate Gregor Gysi None Party PDS Greens (East)[c] Last election Did not exist Did not exist Seats before 24 7 Seats won 17 8 Seat change 7 1 Popular vote 1,129,578 559,207 Percentage 2.4%[b] 1.2%[d] Swing New party New party
Results of the election. The main map shows constituency winners, and results for the proportional list seats are shown in the bottom left.
Government before election Third Kohl cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP-DSU Government after election Fourth Kohl cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP

Federal elections were held in recently united Germany on 2 December 1990 to elect the members of the 12th Bundestag, within the regular time of nearly four years after the January 1987 West German federal election. Due to the accession of the former East German states on 3 October, after which the Bundestag was expanded with East German Volkskammer delegates, the elections were the first democratic all-German elections since the early 1930s.

The result was a comprehensive victory for Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his governing coalition of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), which was reelected to a third term (and a fourth in 1994). The second vote (preferred national party, first vote is for a local candidate) result of the CDU/CSU, 20,358,096 votes, remains the highest ever total vote count in a democratic German election.

The elections marked the first since 1957 that a party other than CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) won a constituency seat (Direktmandat), breaking up the dominance of the two Volksparteien. The first (and only) time since 1957 that FDP won a constituency seat was by Uwe Lühr in Halle, home of Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the "architect of German reunification". In addition, Gregor Gysi (PDS) won Berlin-Marzahn – Hellersdorf.
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