Innsbruck, Sunday, March 6, 1983
Election Day
Today, the long-awaited, important general elections to the Bundestag are being held in the Federal Republic of Germany. How will the approximately 43 million voters who got caught in the tug-of-war between East and West decide?
March 7, 1983
The Election Result
The CDU/CSU won the election to the Bundestag with 48.8% of the ballots cast over the SPD with 38.2% and the 6% of the FDP. The CDU/CSU will have 244 seats in the new Bundestag vs. 193 seats of the SPD and the 34 of the FDP.
[Transl: CDU/CSU=Christlich-Demokratische Union/ Christliche-Soziale Union (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union); SPD=Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany); FDP=Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party)]
Helmut Kohl has been confirmed in his office as chancellor just as the existing coalition of CDU/CSU and the FDP has been strengthened by this election.
[Helmut Kohl was born in Ludwigshafen on the Rhine in 1930. He studied history, law and political science, earning a doctorate in 1958. Since 1959 he had been active as a politician in the CDU; he served as prime minister of Rheinland-Pfalz, 1969-76 and as chairman of the CDU, 1973-98. Following the resignation of Helmut Schmidt, Kohl assumed the office of chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany in October, 1982. Having been reelected several times, he held the office of chancellor until 1998. During his term in office, Chancellor Helmut Kohl brought about the unification of the two German states in 1989-91.]