West German Political Parties and the 1972 Bundestag Election

Abstract

HE BUNDESTAG election of November 19, 1972, in its unequivocal ratification of Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik, was immediately proclaimed by many observers as the most decisive for postwar Europe. It was also widely hailed as evidence that the West Germans had finally come of age politically. An astonishingly high voter interest manifested itself not only in the 91.1 electoral turnout, but also in unprecedented active involvement by ordinary Germans, especially youth, throughout the campaign. For the first time in the Bonn Republic, the Social Democratic party (SDP) became the largest party in the Bundestag while the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was relegated for the second time to the opposition, perhaps for the indefinite future. Each of the Bundestag elections to date has been eagerly awaited by students of German politics in the hope of ascertaining definitive clues to the future probable characteristics of the emerging West German party system. A possibly significant clue in the 1972 election was the victory of the small Free Democratic party (FDP) which had aligned with the SPD in the social-liberal Coalition (1969-72). The FDP not only survived the five percent rule,' but also dramatically increased its percentage of the vote. The combined SPD-FDP triumph in 1972 presents an excellent opportunity for noting evolving changes in West German society which have resulted in steadily increasing political moderation, analysis of the likely future evolution of the modified two-party system which West Germany has produced, and enhancing our understanding of the significance of electoral provisions.