Election of the German Federal President in 1974

Election of the German Federal President in 1974
Candidates				Votes in%
Walter Scheel			51.2
Richard von Weizsäcker			48.1
Abstentions			0.5

Walter Scheel

Richard von Weizsäcker

When the German Federal President was elected in 1974 on May 15, 1974, the Executive Chancellor , Federal Foreign Minister and FDP Chairman Walter Scheel was elected fourth Federal President by the 6th Federal Assembly in Bonn 's Beethoven Hall . After Willy Brandt had resigned from the office of Chancellor on May 8, 1974, Scheel was acting head of government at the time of his election; Helmut Schmidt was only elected Chancellor one day later.

Scheel's term of office as Federal President did not begin until July 1, 1974 with the expiry of the term of office of his predecessor Gustav Heinemann on June 30, 1974. He had renounced a second term. At the time , the NZZ wrote about Scheel's motives : "His intention to become Federal President was often and uncontestedly linked to his state of health." The NZZ noted Scheel's "understandable desire to be relieved of the dual office of FDP party chairman."

Scheel had been proposed by the SPD (470 seats in the Federal Assembly) and the FDP (65 seats). The candidate of the CDU and CSU (501 seats), Richard von Weizsäcker, lost, but was elected Federal President in 1984 after the CDU had prevailed in 1979 with Karl Carstens .

From 1974 the federal presidential elections took place again in Bonn . It had been held in West Berlin from 1954 to 1969 , which the Soviet Union and the GDR viewed as an illegal provocation: The head of state of the Federal Republic of Germany was not allowed to be elected in West Berlin, which was not part of the Federal Republic due to its four-power status . The Federal Assembly has been meeting in Berlin again since the first federal presidential election in 1994 after reunification .

Bonn, May 15, 1974 - total number of votes 1036 - absolute majority 519

Ballot	candidate	Number of votes	%	Political party
1st ballot	Walter Scheel	530	51.2%	FDP
	Richard von Weizsäcker	498	48.1%	CDU
	Abstentions	5	0.5%
	votes not cast	3	0.3%
Walter Scheel was thus elected Federal President.

Web links

• Information about the Federal Assembly on the homepage of the Bundestag