1976 West German federal election

1976 West German federal election

3 October 1976 (1976-10-03)

All 496 seats in the Bundestag
249 seats needed for a majority
Registered42,058,015 ( 1.5%)
Turnout90.7% ( 0.4pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Candidate Helmut Kohl Helmut Schmidt Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP
Last election 44.9%, 225 seats 45.8%, 230 seats 8.4%, 41 seats
Seats won 243 214 39
Seat change 18 16 2
Popular vote 18,394,801 16,099,019 2,995,085
Percentage 48.6% 42.6% 7.9%
Swing 3.7 pp 3.2 pp 0.5 pp

The left side shows constituency winners of the election by their party colours. The right side shows party list winners of the election for the additional members by their party colours.

Government before election

First Schmidt cabinet
SPD–FDP

Government after election

Second Schmidt cabinet
SPD–FDP

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 3 October 1976 to elect the members of the 8th Bundestag. Although the CDU/CSU alliance became the largest faction in parliament, Helmut Schmidt of the Social Democratic Party remained Chancellor.