1990 Berlin state election

The 1990 Berlin state election was held on 2 December 1990 to elect the members of the 12th Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. This was the first election held in Berlin after the reunification of Germany and Berlin, and was held on the same day as the 1990 federal election.

1990 Berlin state election

2 December 1990
All 241 seats of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin 121 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	2,019,198 (80.8%)
Leader Eberhard Diepgen Walter Momper Party CDU SPD PDS Seats won 101 76 23 Popular vote 815,382 614,075 184,820 Percentage 40.4% 30.4% 9.2%   Party FDP Alternative List Alliance 90 Seats won 18 12 11 Popular vote 143,080 100,839 87,891 Percentage 7.1% 5.0% 4.4%
Mayor before election Walter Momper (West) Tino-Antoni Schwierzina/Thomas Krüger (East) Elected Mayor Eberhard Diepgen CDU

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged as the largest party with 40.4%, with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) second on 30.4%. The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) won 9.2%, while the Free Democratic Party (FDP) won 7.1%. Two green parties, the Alternative List from the West and the Alliance 90 from the East, entered the Abgeordnetenhaus with 5.0% and 4.4% respectively. The 5% electoral threshold for entry was applied separately in the old West and East of the city, allowing both parties to enter despite both falling short of 5% statewide. They subsequently formed a joint parliamentary group, and later merged to become the Berlin branch of Alliance 90/The Greens.

A potential CDU–FDP government came up two seats short of a majority, and no left-of-centre arrangement was possible due to the presence of PDS. Thus, the CDU and SPD entered into a grand coalition, and CDU leader and former Mayor Eberhard Diepgen was elected as the first Mayor of reunified Berlin.[1]

Parties

The table below lists the parties and groupings competing in the election which were represented in the 11th Abgeordnetenhaus of West Berlin (elected in 1989) and the last city council of East Berlin (elected in May 1990). Parties are listed in order of the number of seats they held in both city legislatures.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1989 result (West)		1990 result (East)
					Votes (%)	Seats	Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Walter Momper	37.3%	55 / 138	34.1%[lower-alpha 1]	47 / 138
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Eberhard Diepgen	37.7%	55 / 138	18.4%[lower-alpha 2]	25 / 138
	PDS	Party of Democratic Socialism Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus	Democratic socialism		N/A		30.1%	42 / 138
	Bü90/Grüne/UFV	Alliance 90/Green/UFV Bündnis 90/Grüne/UFV	Green politics		N/A		12.6%[lower-alpha 3]	18 / 138
	Grüne/AL	Green/Alternative List Grüne/Alternativen Liste	Green politics		11.8%	17 / 138	N/A
	REP	The Republicans Die Republikaner	National conservatism		7.5%	11 / 138	N/A
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism		3.9%	0 / 138	2.3%[lower-alpha 4]	3 / 138
	DSU	German Social Union Deutsche Soziale Union	National conservatism		N/A		1.0%	2 / 138

Election result

Summary of the 2 December 1990 election results for the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin

Party		Votes	%	Seats	Seats %
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	815,382	40.4	101	41.9
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	614,075	30.4	76	31.5
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	184,820	9.2	23	9.5
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	143,080	7.1	18	7.5
	Green/Alternative List (Grüne/AL)	100,839	5.0	12	5.0
	Alliance 90/Green/VFU (Bü90/Grüne/UFV)	87,891	4.4	11	4.6
	The Republicans (REP)	62,041	3.1	0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	5,160	0.3	0	0
	German Social Union (DSU)	4,539	0.2	0	0
	League of German Democrats (DDD)	1,371	0.1	0	0
Total		2,019,198	100.0	241
Voter turnout			80.8

Popular Vote CDU   40.38% SPD   30.41% PDS   9.15% FDP   7.09% AL   4.99% BÜ90   4.35% REP   3.07% Other   0.55%

Abgeordnetenhaus seats CDU   41.91% SPD   31.54% PDS   9.54% FDP   7.47% AL   4.98% BÜ90   4.56%

Notes

1. Results for the Social Democratic Party in the GDR, which merged with the Western SPD in 1990.
2. Results for the CDU (17.7%, 24 seats) and DA (0.6%, 1 seat). The two parties merged with the Western CDU in 1990.
3. Results for Alliance 90 (9.9%, 14 seats) and the Green Party (2.7%, 4 seats).
4. Results for the Association of Free Democrats (1.2%, 2 seats) and FDP (1.0%, 1 seat). The two parties merged with the Western FDP in 1990.

References

1. "Die Landeswahlleiterin für Berlin - Historie - Vergangene Wahlen". www.wahlen-berlin.de.