1994 German federal election

The SPD let its members elect a candidate for Chancellor against Helmut Kohl after SPD leader Björn Engholm and Chancellor candidate-designate had to resign in 1993 amid scandal. Rudolf Scharping, Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, beat Gerhard Schröder and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul in the SPD's internal election. Scharping was only elected with 40 percent of the vote and relied on campaigning with other SPD leaders and rivals such as Oskar Lafontaine and Gerhard Schröder, both self-confident and outspoken, in a "troika". Tension between them greatly hurt his campaign.[1] In addition, Scharping was seen as a weak leader due to his lack of charisma and media skills and therefore did not induce a lot of enthusiasm.[2]

For the first time in their existence, Alliance 90/The Greens seemed to be willing to join a government in case a centre-left SPD–Greens coalition had a workable majority in the Bundestag.

The election also saw a "red socks" campaign used by the centre-right, including the CDU/CSU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), to scare off a possible red–red–green coalition (SPD–PDS–Greens). Analysts have stated that such a strategy likely paid off, as it was seen as one of the decisive elements for the narrow victory of Kohl for the CDU/CSU–FDP. The campaign was criticized as an obvious attempt to discredit the whole political left; the PDS reinterpreted it for itself by printing red socks.[3]

Party		Constituency			Party list			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	17,966,813	38.3	103	17,140,354	36.4	149	252	+13
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)a	17,473,325	37.2	177	16,089,960	34.2	67	244	−24
	Christian Social Union (CSU)a	3,657,627	7.8	44	3,427,196	7.3	6	50	−1
	Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE)b	3,037,902	6.5	0	3,424,315	7.3	49	49	+41
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	1,558,185	3.3	0	3,258,407	6.9	47	47	−32
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	1,920,420	4.1	4	2,066,176	4.4	26	30	+13
	The Republicans (REP)	787,757	1.7	0	875,239	1.9	0	0	0
	The Grays – Gray Panthers (GRAUE)	178,450	0.4	0	238,642	0.5	0	0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	200,138	0.4	0	183,715	0.4	0	0	0
	Natural Law Party (Naturgesetz)	59,087	0.1	0	73,193	0.2	0	0	New
	Human Environment Animal Protection	–	–	–	71,643	0.2	0	0	New
	Party of Bible-abiding Christians (PBC)	26,864	0.1	0	65,651	0.1	0	0	New
	Statt Party (STATT)	7,927	0.0	0	63,354	0.1	0	0	New
	Bavaria Party (BP)	3,324	0.0	0	42,491	0.1	0	0	0
	Car-drivers' and Citizens' Interests Party (APD)	1,654	0.0	0	21,533	0.0	0	0	New
	Christian Centre (CM)	3,559	0.0	0	19,887	0.0	0	0	0
	Party of the Willing to Work and Socially Vulnerable (PASS)	489	0.0	0	15,040	0.0	0	0	New
	Marxist-Leninist Party (MLPD)	4,932	0.0	0	10,038	0.0	0	0	0
	Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität (BüSo)c	8,032	0.0	0	8,103	0.0	0	0	0
	Christian League (Liga)	3,788	0.0	0	5,195	0.0	0	0	0
	Centre Party (ZENTRUM)	1,489	0.0	0	3,757	0.0	0	0	0
	Federation of Socialist Workers (BSA)	–	–	–	1,285	0.0	0	0	0
	Free Citizens' Union (FBU)	8,193	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	German Social Union (DSU)	2,395	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	German Communist Party (DKP)	693	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	German People's Party (DVP)	606	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Free Social Union (FSU)	467	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	Communist Party of Germany (KPD)	426	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	Independent Workers' Party (UAP)	302	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0
	Liberal Democrats (LD)	221	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Federation for a Complete Germany (BGD)	107	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Democrats (DEMOKRATEN)	104	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Independents and voter groups	34,080	0.1	0	–	–	–	0	0
Valid votes		46,949,356	98.3	–	47,105,174	98.7	–	–	–
Invalid/blank votes		788,643	1.7	–	632,825	1.3	–	–	–
Total votes		47,737,999	100.0	328	47,737,999	100.0	344	672	+10
Registered voters/turnout		60,452,009	79.0	–	60,452,009	79.0	–	–	–
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

^a – 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.

^b – totals for the Greens reflect the merger of the Western and Eastern Green parties.

^c – previously the Patriots for Germany (Patrioten für Deutschland, Patrioten).

Seat results – SPD in red, combined Greens in green, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

Results by state

Second vote (Zweitstimme, or votes for party list)

State results in %	CDU/CSU	SPD	GRÜNE	FDP	PDS	REP	all others
Baden-Württemberg	43.3	30.7	9.6	9.9	0.8	3.1	2.6
Bavaria	51.2	29.6	6.3	6.4	0.5	2.8	3.2
Berlin	31.4	34.0	10.2	5.2	14.8	1.9	2.5
Brandenburg	28.1	45.1	2.9	2.6	19.3	1.1	0.9
Bremen	30.2	45.5	11.1	7.2	2.7	1.7	1.6
Hamburg	34.9	39.7	12.6	7.2	2.2	1.7	1.7
Hesse	40.7	37.2	9.3	8.1	1.1	2.4	1.2
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	38.5	28.8	3.6	3.4	23.6	1.2	0.9
Lower Saxony	41.3	40.6	7.1	7.7	1.0	1.2	1.1
North Rhine-Westphalia	38.0	43.1	7.4	7.6	1.0	1.3	1.6
Rhineland-Palatinate	43.8	39.4	6.2	6.9	0.6	1.9	1.2
Saarland	37.2	48.8	5.8	4.3	0.7	1.6	1.6
Saxony	48.0	24.3	4.8	3.8	16.7	1.4	1.0
Saxony-Anhalt	38.8	33.4	3.6	4.1	18.0	1.0	1.1
Schleswig-Holstein	41.5	39.6	8.3	7.4	1.1	1.0	1.1
Thuringia	41.0	30.2	4.9	4.1	17.2	1.4	1.2

The coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP was able to continue in power with Helmut Kohl as chancellor.

The PDS won four constituency seats in its power base of the former East Berlin, qualifying it for proportional representation even though the party won 4.4 percent of the vote, just short of the 5% electoral threshold required for full parliamentary status. Under a longstanding electoral law intended to benefit regional parties, any party that wins at least three constituency seats is entitled to its share of proportionally-elected seats, regardless of vote share.[4]

This was the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that the FDP was not the third largest party in the chamber.

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos