West German presidential election, 1984

West German presidential election, 1984
Germany

 
Nominee Richard von Weizsäcker Luise Rinser (right)
Party CDU Green
Electoral vote 832 68

President before election

Karl Carstens
CDU

Elected President

Richard von Weizsäcker
CDU

An indirect presidential election was held in West Germany on 23 May 1984. Though not term limited, incumbent Karl Carstens elected not to seek a second term. His Christian Democratic Union instead nominated Richard von Weizsäcker, the Governing Mayor of West Berlin. The Greens, who were represented at the Federal Convention for the first time, nominated author Luise Rinser. The SPD and FDP elected not to nominate candidates. Weizsäcker won the election with 80% of the vote on the first ballot.

Composition of the Federal Convention

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 525 Bundestag 520
SPD 426 Baden-Württemberg 77
FDP 47 Bavaria 94
Greens 39 Berlin 15
Independents 3 Bremen 6
Total 1040 Hamburg 13
Hesse 46
Lower Saxony 64
North Rhine-Westphalia 141
Rhineland-Palatinate 32
Saarland 9
Schleswig-Holstein 23
Total 1040

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

Results

Candidate Parties Votes %
Richard von WeizsäckerCDU, CSU, SPD, FDP83280.0
Luise RinserThe Greens686.5
Abstentions11711.3
Invalid111.1
Not present121.2
Total1,040100
Source: Bundestag

References

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