1975 West Berlin state election

The election to the Berlin House of Representatives occurred on March 2, 1975. The election campaign was marked by the kidnapping of the CDU top candidate, Peter Lorenz. Lorenz was kidnapped three days before the election by 2 June Movement who demanded the release of six of their comrades. This left incumbent SPD mayor Klaus Schütz in the somewhat awkward position of having to determine, so to speak, the life of his challenger. After the federal government gave in to the demands by the 2 June Movement, Peter Lorenz was released two days after the election.

In the election the SPD lost 7.8 percentage points in the election, and with 42.6% of the vote lost its absolute majority that it had held since 1954. The election results gave the power of determining the governing coalition to the FDP. After negotiations, incumbent SPD mayor Klaus Schütz was able to be re-elected at the head of an SPD-FDP government.

1975 West Berlin state election

← 1971 2 March 1975 1979 →

All 147 seats in the House of Representatives
74 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Peter Lorenz Klaus Schütz
Party CDU SPD FDP
Last election 54 seats, 38.2% 73 seats, 50.4% 11 seats, 8.4%
Seats before 54 73 11
Seats after 69 67 11
Seat change Increase 15 Decrease 6 Steady
Popular vote 604,007 585,605 97,969
Percentage 43.9% 42.6% 7.1%
Swing Increase 5.7% Decrease 7.8% Decrease 1.3%

Mayor before election

Klaus Schütz
SPD

Elected Mayor

Klaus Schütz
SPD

Summary of the results of the 2 March 1975 election to Berlin's Abgeordnetenhaus
PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Christian Democratic Union604,00743.91Increase 5.7%69Increase 15
Social Democratic Party of Germany585,60542.57Decrease 7.8%67Decrease 6
Free Democratic Party97,9697.12Decrease 1.3%11Steady
Confederation of Free Germany46,6913.39Increase 3.4%0Steady
Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin25,1051.83Decrease 0.5%0Steady
Communist Party of Germany10,1250.74Increase 0.7%0Steady
Others6,0200.44Decrease 0.1%0Steady
Total1,375,522100.00147
Source: German Wikipedia