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The election to the Berlin House of Representatives occurred on March 2, 1975. The election campaign was marked by the kidnapping of the CDU top candidate, Peter Lorenz. Lorenz was kidnapped three days before the election by 2 June Movement who demanded the release of six of their comrades. This left incumbent SPD mayor Klaus Schütz in the somewhat awkward position of having to determine, so to speak, the life of his challenger. After the federal government gave in to the demands by the 2 June Movement, Peter Lorenz was released two days after the election.
In the election the SPD lost 7.8 percentage points in the election, and with 42.6% of the vote lost its absolute majority that it had held since 1954. The election results gave the power of determining the governing coalition to the FDP. After negotiations, incumbent SPD mayor Klaus Schütz was able to be re-elected at the head of an SPD-FDP government.
1975 West Berlin state election
← 1971
2 March 1975
1979 →
All 147 seats in the House of Representatives 74 seats needed for a majority
Majority party
Minority party
Third party
Leader
Peter Lorenz
Klaus Schütz
Party
CDU
SPD
FDP
Last election
54 seats, 38.2%
73 seats, 50.4%
11 seats, 8.4%
Seats before
54
73
11
Seats after
69
67
11
Seat change
15
6
Popular vote
604,007
585,605
97,969
Percentage
43.9%
42.6%
7.1%
Swing
5.7%
7.8%
1.3%
Mayor before election
Klaus Schütz
SPD
Elected Mayor
Klaus Schütz
SPD
Summary of the results of the 2 March 1975 election to Berlin's Abgeordnetenhaus
Party
Votes
%
+/–
Seats
+/–
Christian Democratic Union
604,007
43.91
5.7%
69
15
Social Democratic Party of Germany
585,605
42.57
7.8%
67
6
Free Democratic Party
97,969
7.12
1.3%
11
Confederation of Free Germany
46,691
3.39
3.4%
0
Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin
25,105
1.83
0.5%
0
Communist Party of Germany
10,125
0.74
0.7%
0
Others
6,020
0.44
0.1%
0
Total
1,375,522
100.00
–
147
–
Source: German Wikipedia
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See also: Template:German elections
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Global Information
5.7%
7.8%
Elections in Berlin