1980 West German federal election

Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of the SPD-FDP coalition wanted to be re-elected. The CDU/CSU tried to make their candidate the elected Chancellor, CSU leader Franz Josef Strauß. It was the first time that their candidate was from the CSU. Strauß, immensely popular in Bavaria, found it difficult to appeal to people in other parts of Germany. One important reason for Strauss's unpopularity compared to Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, was his tendency to talk sharply and militantly about his political opponents. Schmidt, by contrast, was still seen by many West German voters as a moderate and practical manager and doer, who focused on getting concrete political and economic results more than on political rhetoric.[1][2][3]

Party		Constituency			Party list			Total seatsa	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	16,808,861	44.5	127	16,260,677	42.9	91	218	+4
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)b	13,467,207	35.6	81	12,989,200	34.2	93	174	−16
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	2,720,480	7.2	0	4,030,999	10.6	53	53	+14
	Christian Social Union (CSU)b	3,941,365	10.4	40	3,908,459	10.3	12	52	−1
	The Greens (GRÜNE)c	732,619	1.0	0	569,589	1.5	0	0	New
	German Communist Party (DKP)	107,158	0.3	0	71,600	0.2	0	0	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	–	–	–	68,096	0.2	0	0	0
	Citizens' Party	507	0.0	0	11,256	0.0	0	0	New
	People's Front Against Reaction, Fascism and War (V)	7,160	0.0	0	9,319	0.0	0	0	New
	Communist League of West Germany (KBW)	12,008	0.0	0	8,174	0.0	0	0	0
	European Workers' Party (EAP)	4,992	0.0	0	7,666	0.0	0	0	0
	Christian Bavarian People's Party (CBV)	–	–	–	3,946	0.0	0	0	0
	German Union (DU)	421	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Independent Workers' Party (UAP)	159	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	German Freedom Party (DFP)	96	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Independents and voter groups	3,498	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
Valid votes		37,806,531	98.7	–	37,938,981	99.1	–	–	–
Invalid/blank votes		485,645	1.3	–	353,115	0.9	–	–	–
Total votes		38,292,176	100.0	248	38,292,176	100.0	249	497	+1
Registered voters/turnout		43,231,741	88.6	–	43,231,741	88.6	–	–	–
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

^a – excludes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (11 CDU, 10 SPD, 1 FDP).

^b – The Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria call themselves sister parties. They do not compete against each other in the same geographical regions and they form one group within the Bundestag.

^c – known as Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz (AL) in West Berlin.

Seat results – SPD in red, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

The coalition between the SPD and the FDP returned to government, with Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor. In 1982, the FDP quit the government, which led to the government's collapse and replacement with a new CDU/CSU – FDP coalition under Helmut Kohl.

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos