1965 West German federal election

1965 West German federal election

← 1961 19 September 1965 (1965-09-19) 1969 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 496 seats in the Bundestag[a] 249 seats needed for a majority
Registered	38,510,395 2.9%
Turnout	33,416,207 (86.8%) 0.9 pp
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Ludwig Erhard Willy Brandt Erich Mende Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Last election 45.3%, 242 seats 36.2%, 190 seats 12.8%, 67 seats Seats won 245[b] 202[c] 49[d] Seat change 3 12 18 Popular vote 15,524,068 12,813,186 3,096,739 Percentage 47.6% 39.3% 9.5% Swing 2.3 pp 3.1 pp 3.3 pp
Results by constituency for the first votes. Grey denotes seats won by the CDU/CSU; red denotes seats won by the SPD.
Government before election First Erhard cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP Government after election Second Erhard cabinet CDU/CSU–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 19 September 1965 to elect the members of the 5th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU remained the largest faction, while the Social Democratic Party remained the largest single party in the Bundestag, winning 217 of the 518 seats (including 15 of the 22 non-voting delegates for West Berlin).

Federal Chancellor Ludwig Erhard was initially popular as the acclaimed "father" of West Germany's economic miracle of the 1950s and early 1960s. West Germany's economy still seemed solid in 1965, and thus not enough West German voters wanted to change the party of Federal Chancellor. To ensure his victory in this Bundestag election, Erhard promised to cut income tax and to increase social program spending.^[1][2]

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Elected	West Berlin	Total	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	12,813,186	39.28	108	12,998,474	40.07	94	202	15	217	+14
	Christian Democratic Union	12,387,562	37.97	78	12,631,319	38.94	118	196	6	202	+1
	Christian Social Union	3,136,506	9.62	13	3,204,648	9.88	36	49	0	49	–1
	Free Democratic Party	3,096,739	9.49	49	2,562,294	7.90	0	49	1	50	–17
	National Democratic Party	664,193	2.04	0	587,216	1.81	0	0	0	0	0
	German Peace Union [de]	434,182	1.33	0	386,900	1.19	0	0	0	0	0
	Action Community of Independent Germans [de]	52,637	0.16	0	46,146	0.14	0	0	0	0	New
	Christian People's Party	19,832	0.06	0	11,978	0.04	0	0	0	0	New
	Free Social Union [de]	10,631	0.03	0	6,287	0.02	0	0	0	0	New
	Independent Workers' Party	3,959	0.01	0	1,127	0.00	0	0	0	0	New
	European Federalist Party [de]	1,015	0.00	0	0	0.00	–	0	0	0	New
	Independents and voter groups				660	0.00	0	0	0	0	0
Total		32,620,442	100.00	248	32,437,049	100.00	248	496	22	518	–3
Valid votes		32,620,442	97.62		32,437,049	97.07
Invalid/blank votes		795,765	2.38		979,158	2.93
Total votes		33,416,207	100.00		33,416,207	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		38,510,395	86.77		38,510,395	86.77
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

The coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP returned to government, with Ludwig Erhard as Chancellor. In 1966, the FDP left the coalition over budget issues, and Erhard resigned. Kurt Georg Kiesinger (also CDU) formed a new grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD which lasted until the next election.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1965 Germany Bundestagswahl.