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

• https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/26/archives/brandt-joins-state-election-drives.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/02/archives/west-berlin-voting-today-as-candidate-is-still-held.html

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