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German federal election, 2002
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The 15th German federal election, 2002 was conducted on September 22, 2002, to elect members to the Bundestag (lower house) of Germany.
Issues and Campaign
Several issues dominated the campaign, with the opposition CDU/CSU attacking the government's performance on the economy as well as campaigning on family values issues and against taxes (particularly on fuel). The government, on the other hand, was helped by broad support for its opposition to the Iraq War and by Gerhard Schröder's personal popularity relative to the opposition's candidate for Chancellor, CSU leader Edmund Stoiber.
Results
Although the opposition gained seats, and the result was in doubt for most of the election night, the governing coalition retained a narrow majority. In particular, the SPD was able to partially offset declines in their vote share in the West with an increase in the East, with the PDS falling below both the 5% threshold and the 3-seat threshold, either of which is required to qualify a party for top-up seats. Consequently the PDS held only two directly-elected seats.
|
Party |
Party List votes |
Vote percentage (change) |
Total Seats (change) |
Seat percentage |
|
Social Democratic Party (SPD) |
18,484,560 |
38.5% |
-2.4% |
251 |
-47 |
41.6% |
|
Alliance '90/The Greens |
4,108,314 |
8.6% |
+1.9% |
55 |
+8 |
9.1% |
|
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) |
14,164,183 |
29.5% |
+1.1% |
190 |
-8 |
31.5% |
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Christian Social Union (CSU) |
4,311,513 |
9.0% |
+2.2% |
58 |
+11 |
9.6% |
|
Free Democratic Party (FDP) |
3,537,466 |
7.4% |
+1.1% |
47 |
+4 |
7.8% |
|
Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) |
1,915,797 |
4.0% |
-1.1% |
2 |
-34 |
0.3% |
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All Others |
1,458,471 |
3.0% |
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0 |
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0.0% |
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Totals |
47,980,304 |
100.0% |
|
603 |
-66 |
100.0% |
Seat results -- SPD in red, Greens in green, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black
Post-election
The coalition between the SPD and the Greens continued in government with Gerhard Schröder as chancellor.
Further reading
Sources
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