1989 West German presidential election

1989 West German presidential election

← 1984 23 May 1989 1994 →
 
Nominee Richard von Weizsäcker
Party CDU
Electoral vote 881

President before election

Richard von Weizsäcker
CDU

Elected President

Richard von Weizsäcker
CDU

An indirect presidential election (officially the 9th Federal Convention) was held in West Germany on 23 May 1989. The only candidate was incumbent President Richard von Weizsäcker, who had the support of all four major parties (CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, and The Greens). It is so far the only time that a presidential candidate ran unopposed. It was also the last presidential election held before German reunification.

Composition of the Federal Convention

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The president is elected by the Federal Convention consisting of all the members of the Bundestag and an equal number of delegates representing the states. These are divided proportionally by population to each state, and each state's delegation is divided among the political parties represented in its parliament so as to reflect the partisan proportions in the parliament.

By party By state
Party Members State Members
CDU/CSU 479 Bundestag 519
SPD 419 Baden-Württemberg 77
FDP 71 Bavaria 94
Greens 67 Berlin 16
Republicans 1 Bremen 5
Independent 1 Hamburg 13
Total 1038 Hesse 46
Lower Saxony 63
North Rhine-Westphalia 141
Rhineland-Palatinate 32
Saarland 9
Schleswig-Holstein 23
Total 1038

Source: Eine Dokumentation aus Anlass der Wahl des Bundespräsidenten am 18. März 2012

Results

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Candidate Parties Votes %
Richard von Weizsäcker CDU, CSU, SPD, FDP, The Greens 881 84.9
Against votes 108 10.4
Abstention 30 2.9
Invalid votes 3 0.3
Not present 16 1.5
Total 1,038 100
Source: Bundestag

References

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