The CDU/CSU remained the largest faction, while the Social Democratic Party remained the largest single party in the Bundestag, winning 217 of the 518 seats (including 15 of the 22 non-voting delegates for West Berlin).

Federal Chancellor Ludwig Erhard was initially popular as the acclaimed "father" of West Germany's economic miracle of the 1950s and early 1960s.

To ensure his victory in this Bundestag election, Erhard promised to cut income tax and to increase social program spending.

In 1966, the FDP left the coalition over budget issues, and Erhard resigned.

Kurt Georg Kiesinger (also CDU) formed a new grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD which lasted until the next election.