Election of the German Federal President in 1994

Election of the German Federal President in 1994 - third ballot
Candidates				Votes in%
Roman Duke			52.6
Johannes Rau			45.7
Hans Hirzel			0.8

Roman Duke

Johannes Rau

Hildegard Hamm-Brücher

Jens Reich

When the German Federal President was elected by the 10th Federal Assembly in 1994, Roman Herzog, President of the Federal Constitutional Court, was elected the seventh Federal President. Originally known as ultra was conservative force Steffen Heitmann , candidate of the Union parties provided, but this was due to controversial statements on the role of women to the Holocaust withdrawn or foreigners. So, quite surprisingly, Herzog ran as a candidate for the CDU / CSU. As a liberal candidate, Herzog was in particular also for the FDP more eligible, on whose votes the Union parties in the Federal Assembly were dependent.

Johannes Rau, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia , lost the election to Herzog, but was finally able to win the 1999 election. The then SPD chairman Rudolf Scharping was accused of holding on to Rau for too long. In view of Rau's lack of chances, he should have urged Rau to give up in favor of Hamm-Brücher and thus drive a wedge between the CDU / CSU and the FDP.

Jens Reich , civil rights activist from Bündnis 90 of the end of the GDR era and proposed by Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen , as well as the journalist Hans Hirzel , nominated by the right-wing Republicans and a member of the White Rose resistance organization during the Nazi era , were seen from the outset as having no chance.

As a result of reunification and after a 25-year mandatory break resulting from the four-power agreement, the Federal President was re-elected in Berlin.

Berlin, May 23, 1994 - total votes 1324 - absolute majority 663

Ballot	candidate	Number of votes	proportion of	Political party
1st ballot	Roman Duke	604	45.6%	CDU
	Johannes Rau	505	38.1%	SPD
	Hildegard Hamm-Brücher	132	10.0%	FDP
	Jens Reich	62	4.7%	proposed by the Greens
	Hans Hirzel	12	0.9%	proposed by the REP
2nd ballot	Roman Duke	622	47.0%	CDU
	Johannes Rau	559	42.2%	SPD
	Hildegard Hamm-Brücher	126	9.5%	FDP
	Hans Hirzel	11	0.8%	proposed by the REP
3rd ballot	Roman Duke	696	52.6%	CDU
	Johannes Rau	605	45.7%	SPD
	Hans Hirzel	11	0.8%	proposed by the REP
Roman Herzog was thus elected Federal President.

See also

• List of members of the 10th Federal Assembly

literature

• Werner Billing: The struggle to fill the highest office of the state: Selection and election of the Federal President 1994 . In: Journal for Parliamentary Questions, 26 (1995) 4, pp. 595–620
• http://www.bundestag.de/parlament/lösungen/bundesammlung/bundesversammlungen_seit_1949

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Steffen Heitmann, the Chancellor's failed favorite, has waived the right to vote in the election of the Federal President HOW DOES S DO, Mr. Heitmann? "I'm not as naive as I was then" , article from May 21, 1994 by Peter Pragal on Berliner Zeitung .de