Federal elections were held in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

on 19 September 1965 to elect the members of the 5th

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...

. The CDU/CSU remained the largest faction, while the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

remained the largest single party in the

, winning 217 of the 518 seats (including 15 of the 22 non-voting delegates for

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

Campaign

Federal Chancellor Ludwig Erhard was initially popular as the acclaimed "father" of West Germany's economic miracle of the 1950s and early 1960s. West Germany's economy still seemed solid in 1965, and thus not enough West German voters wanted to change the party of Federal Chancellor. To ensure his victory in this Bundestag election, Erhard promised to cut income tax and to increase social program spending.

Results

Results by state

Constituency seats

List seats

Aftermath

The coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP returned to government, with Ludwig Erhard as

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

. In 1966, the FDP left the coalition over budget issues, and Erhard resigned. Kurt Georg Kiesinger (also CDU) formed a new grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD which lasted until the next election.

Notes

References

{{German federal elections Federal elections in Germany 1965 elections in Germany Ludwig Erhard 1965 in West Germany September 1965 events in Europe