1994 German federal election

The Social Democratic Party (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–Party of Democratic Socialism (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		Party-list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Social Democratic Party	17,140,354	36.39	149	17,966,813	38.27	103	252	+13
	Christian Democratic Union	16,089,960	34.16	67	17,473,325	37.22	177	244	−24
	Christian Social Union	3,427,196	7.28	6	3,657,627	7.79	44	50	−1
	Alliance 90/The Greens	3,424,315	7.27	49	3,037,902	6.47	0	49	+41
	Free Democratic Party	3,258,407	6.92	47	1,558,185	3.32	0	47	−32
	Party of Democratic Socialism	2,066,176	4.39	26	1,920,420	4.09	4	30	+13
	The Republicans	875,239	1.86	0	787,757	1.68	0	0	0
	The Grays – Gray Panthers	238,642	0.51	0	178,450	0.38	0	0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party	183,715	0.39	0	200,138	0.43	0	0	0
	Natural Law Party	73,193	0.16	0	59,087	0.13	0	0	New
	Human Environment Animal Protection	71,643	0.15	0				0	New
	Party of Bible-abiding Christians	65,651	0.14	0	26,864	0.06	0	0	New
	Statt Party	63,354	0.13	0	7,927	0.02	0	0	New
	Bavaria Party	42,491	0.09	0	3,324	0.01	0	0	0
	Car-drivers' and Citizens' Interests Party	21,533	0.05	0	1,654	0.00	0	0	New
	Christian Centre	19,887	0.04	0	3,559	0.01	0	0	0
	Party of the Willing to Work and Socially Vulnerable	15,040	0.03	0	489	0.00	0	0	New
	Marxist–Leninist Party	10,038	0.02	0	4,932	0.01	0	0	0
	Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität	8,103	0.02	0	8,032	0.02	0	0	0
	Christian League	5,195	0.01	0	3,788	0.01	0	0	0
	Centre Party	3,757	0.01	0	1,489	0.00	0	0	0
	Federation of Socialist Workers	1,285	0.00	0				0	0
	Free Citizens' Union				8,193	0.02	0	0	New
	German Social Union				2,395	0.01	0	0	0
	German Communist Party				693	0.00	0	0	0
	German People's Party				606	0.00	0	0	New
	Free Social Union				467	0.00	0	0	0
	Communist Party of Germany				426	0.00	0	0	0
	Independent Workers' Party				302	0.00	0	0	0
	Liberal Democrats				221	0.00	0	0	New
	Federation for a Complete Germany				107	0.00	0	0	New
	Democrats				104	0.00	0	0	New
	Independents and voter groups				34,080	0.07	0	0	0
Total		47,105,174	100.00	344	46,949,356	100.00	328	672	+10
Valid votes		47,105,174	98.67		46,949,356	98.35
Invalid/blank votes		632,825	1.33		788,643	1.65
Total votes		47,737,999	100.00		47,737,999	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		60,452,009	78.97		60,452,009	78.97
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

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