1980 West German federal election

1980 West German federal election

5 October 1980 (1980-10-05)

All 497 seats in the Bundestag
249 seats needed for a majority
Registered43,231,741 2.8%
Turnout38,292,176 (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 226 218 53
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 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

Second Schmidt cabinet
SPD–FDP

Government after election

Third Schmidt cabinet
SPD–FDP

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.