1987 West German federal election

The SPD nominated Johannes Rau, their vice chairman and the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, as their candidate for Chancellor. However, the SPD suffered from internal divisions and competition with the Greens. It was also unclear as to how they would form a government, as the Greens were divided over whether to take part in governments.

One of the major issues in this election was the environment, after the Chernobyl disaster and other accidents.

Summary of the 25 January 1987 German Bundestag election results

Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Seatsa	+/−	%
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	14,787,953	39.2	−1.2	79	+11	14,025,763	37.0	−1.2	107	−18	186	−7	37.4
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)b	14,168,527	37.5	−3.5	124	−12	13,045,745	34.4	−3.7	50	−5	174	−17	35.0
	Christian Social Union (CSU)b	3,859,244	10.2	−0.9	45	+1	3,715,827	9.8	−0.8	4	−5	49	−4	9.9
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	1,760,496	4.7	+1.9	0	0	3,440,911	9.1	+2.2	46	+12	46	+12	9.3
	The Greens (GRÜNE)c	2,649,459	7.0	+2.9	0	0	3,126,256	8.3	+2.7	42	+15	42	+15	8.5
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	182,880	0.5	+0.4	0	0	227,054	0.6	+0.4	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	40,765	0.1	+0.1	0	0	109,152	0.3	+0.3	0	0	0	0	0.0
	The Women (FRAUEN)	–	–	–	–	–	62,904	0.2	New	0	New	0	New	0.0
	Bavaria Party (BP)	8,024	0.0	0.0	0	0	26,367	0.1	+0.1	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Responsible Citizens	611	0.0	New	0	New	24,630	0.1	New	0	New	0	New	0.0
	Patriots for Germany (Patrioten)	27,352	0.1	+0.1	0	0	22,732	0.1	+0.1	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Centre Party (ZENTRUM)	4,020	0.0	0.0	0	0	19,035	0.1	+0.1	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Marxist–Leninist Party (MLPD)	596	0.0	New	0	New	13,422	0.0	New	0	New	0	New	0.0
	Christian Bavarian People's Party (CBV)	741	0.0	0.0	0	0	5,282	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	All Social Insurants and Pensioners (ASD)	3,151	0.0	New	0	New	1,834	0.0	New	0	New	0	New	0.0
	Free German Workers' Party (FAP)	349	0.0	New	0	New	405	0.0	New	0	New	0	New	0.0
	Humanist Party (HP)	788	0.0	New	0	New	–	–	–	–	–	0	New	0.0
	SOLIDARITÄT	754	0.0	New	0	New	–	–	–	–	–	0	New	0.0
	Independent Workers' Party (UAP)	352	0.0	0.0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	0	0	0.0
	Family Party (FAMILIE)	130	0.0	New	0	New	–	–	–	–	–	0	New	0.0
	Free Social Union (FSU)	110	0.0	0.0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	0	0	0.0
	Electoral groups and independents	246,511	0.7	+0.6	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	0	0	0.0
Valid votes		37,742,813	98.7	–0.2	–	–	37,867,319	99.1	0.0	–	–	–	–	–
Invalid/blank votes		482,481	1.3	+0.2	–	–	357,975	0.9	0.0	–	–	–	–	–
Total votes		38,225,294	100.0	–	248	0	38,225,294	100.0	–	249	−1	497	−1	100.0
Registered voters/turnout		45,327,982	84.3	–4.8	–	–	45,327,982	84.3	–4.8	–	–	–	–	–
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

^a — excludes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (11 CDU, 7 SPD, 2 FDP, 2 AL).

^b — The Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria call themselves sister parties. They do not compete against each other in the same geographical regions and they form one group within the Bundestag.

^c — known as Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz (AL) in West Berlin.

Seat results – SPD in red, Greens in green, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black

The coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP returned to government, with Helmut Kohl as Chancellor. The Greens came into parliament for the second time and seemed to be established on federal level.

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos