A federal election was held in West Germany on 3 October 1976 to elect the members of the 8th Bundestag. Although the CDU/CSU alliance became the largest faction in parliament, Helmut Schmidt of the Social Democratic Party remained Chancellor.

Campaign The coalition of the SPD and the FDP wanted to be re-elected, with the SPD, since 1974 led by Helmut Schmidt, the party's candidate for Chancellor. The CDU and the CSU tried to achieve an absolute majority of the votes to make CDU chairman Helmut Kohl Chancellor, but they fell six seats short of their target.

Opinion polls Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize Union SPD FDP Others Abstention Lead 1976 federal election 3 Oct 1976 – 48.6 42.6 7.9 0.9 9.3 6.1 Emnid for SPIEGEL Sep 1976 N/A49 41 8 2 — 8 Emnid for SPIEGEL Aug 1976 N/A48 43 7 2 — 5 Emnid for SPIEGEL Jul 1976 N/A47 44 8 1 — 3 Emnid for SPIEGEL Jun 1976 N/A51 41 8 0 — 10 Allensbach Nov/Dec 1975 N/A50.7 39.7 8.6 1.0 — 10.0 Infratest Nov/Dec 1975 N/A47 40 11 2 — 7 Emnid Nov/Dec 1975 N/A45 43 10 2 — 2 1972 federal election 19 Nov 1972 – 44.9 45.8 8.4 0.6 8.9 0.9

Results

Results by state

Constituency seats StateTotalseatsSeats wonSPDCDUCSUBaden-Württemberg36432Bavaria44440Bremen33Hamburg88Hesse22175Lower Saxony301812North Rhine-Westphalia734528Rhineland-Palatinate16610Saarland532Schleswig-Holstein1165Total2481149440

List seats StateTotalseatsSeats wonSPDCDUFDPCSUBaden-Württemberg352267Bavaria4425613Bremen22Hamburg651Hesse255164Lower Saxony3211165North Rhine-Westphalia75253812Rhineland-Palatinate15762Saarland312Schleswig-Holstein11452Total248100963913

Aftermath The coalition between the SPD and the FDP remained in government, with Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor. Between the "sister parties" of CDU and Bavarian CSU there emerged a critical conflict, as the CSU leader Franz Josef Strauß wanted to break both the united Bundestag group of the parties and the agreement not to compete against each other in any Land. Later, this attack was withdrawn, while Strauß became candidate for chancellor for the 1980 elections.

Notes

References

External links The Federal Returning Officer Psephos