West German presidential election, 1974

West German presidential election, 1974

23 May 1974

Nominee Walter Scheel Richard von Weizsäcker Party FDP CDU Electoral vote 530 498

President before election Gustav Heinemann SPD Elected President Walter Scheel FDP

An indirect presidential election was held in West Germany on 23 May 1974. Though not term limited, incumbent Gustav Heinemann chose not to seek a second term. The government parties (SPD and FDP) nominated Vice-Chancellor Walter Scheel; the Christian Democratic Union nominated Richard von Weizsäcker. Scheel won the election by 32 votes on the first ballot. He served as president until 1979. Weizsäcker would later serve as president from 1984 to 1994.

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.

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

Results

References

German presidential elections
Weimar Republic (1919–1933)	1919 1925 1932
East Germany (1949–1960)	1949 1953 1957
Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949)	1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2010 2012 2017