1953 West German federal election

1953 West German federal election

← 1949 6 September 1953 (1953-09-06) 1957 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 487 seats in the Bundestag[a] 244 seats needed for a majority
Registered	33,120,940 6.1%
Turnout	28,479,550 (86.0%) 7.5pp
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Konrad Adenauer Erich Ollenhauer Franz Blücher Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Last election 31.0%, 139 seats 29.2%, 131 seats 11.9%, 52 seats Seats won 243[c] 151[d] 48[b] Seat change 104 20 4 Popular vote 12,443,981 7,944,943 2,629,163 Percentage 45.2% 28.8% 9.5% Swing 14.2pp 0.4pp 2.4pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   GB/BHE DP Zentrum Candidate Waldemar Kraft Heinrich Hellwege Johannes Brockmann Party GB/BHE DP Centre Last election Did not exist 4.0%, 17 seats 3.1%, 10 seats Seats won 27 15 3 Seat change New party 2 7 Popular vote 1,616,953 896,128 217,078 Percentage 5.9% 3.3% 0.8% Swing New party 0.7pp 2.3pp
Results by constituency for the first votes. Grey denotes seats won by the CDU/CSU; red denotes seats won by the SPD; yellow denotes seats won by the FDP; light blue denotes seats won by the German Party; dark blue denotes the seat won by the Centre Party.
Government before election First Adenauer cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP–DP Government after election Second Adenauer cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP–GB/BHE–DP

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Federal elections were held in West Germany on 6 September 1953 to elect the members of the second Bundestag. The Christian Democratic Union emerged as the largest party.

This election was the last before Saarland joined West Germany in 1957. It had been a separate entity, Saar protectorate, under French control since 1946.

Campaign[]

Federal Chancellor Adenauer (who was also the Christian Democratic leader) campaigned on his policies of economic reconstruction and growth, moderate conservatism or Christian democracy, and close relations with the United States. The new Social Democratic leader – Kurt Schumacher had died in 1952 – was Erich Ollenhauer, who was more moderate in his policies than Schumacher had been. He did not oppose, in principle, the United States' military presence in Western Europe. In fact, he later – in 1957 – supported a military alliance of most European countries, including Germany.^[1][2] Adenauer managed to convince clearly more West German voters of his leadership abilities and economic and political success to easily win a second term, although he had to form a coalition government with the Free Democrats and the conservative German Party to gain a majority in the Bundestag.

Results[]

Party		Constituency			Party list			Total seatsa	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	9,577,659	34.8	130	10,016,594	36.4	61	191	+76
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	8,131,257	29.5	45	7,944,943	28.8	106	151	+20
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	2,967,566	10.8	14	2,629,163	9.5	34	48	−4
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	2,450,286	8.9	42	2,427,387	8.8	10	52	+28
	All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB/BHE)	1,613,215	5.9	0	1,616,953	5.9	27	27	New
	German Party (DP)	1,073,031	3.9	10	896,128	3.3	5	15	−2
	Communist Party (KPD)	611,317	2.2	0	607,860	2.2	0	0	−15
	Bavaria Party (BP)	399,070	1.5	0	465,641	1.7	0	0	−17
	All-German People's Party (GVP)	286,465	1.0	0	318,475	1.2	0	0	New
	Deutsche Reichspartei (DRP)b	204,725	0.7	0	295,739	1.1	0	0	−5
	Centre Party (ZENTRUM)	55,835	0.2	1	217,078	0.8	2	3	−7
	Dachverband der Nationalen Sammlung (DNS)	78,356	0.3	0	70,726	0.3	0	0	New
	South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW)	44,339	0.2	0	44,585	0.2	0	0	−1
	Schleswig-Holsteinische Bauern- und Landarbeiterdemokratie (SHBLD)	6,269	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Patriotic Union (VU)	2,531	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Party of the Good Germans (PdgD)	654	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Independents and voter groups	17,185	0.1	0	–	–	–	0	−3
Valid votes		27,519,760	96.6	–	27,551,272	96.7	–	–	–
Invalid/blank votes		959,790	3.4	–	928,278	3.3	–	–	–
Total votes		28,479,550	100.0	242	28,479,550	100.0	245	487	+85
Registered voters/turnout		33,120,940	86.0	–	33,120,940	86.0	–	–	–
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

^a – excludes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (11 SPD, 6 CDU, 5 FDP).

^b – previously the Deutsche Rechtspartei (German Right Party).

Aftermath[]

Konrad Adenauer remained Chancellor, governing in a broad coalition (two-thirds majority) with most of the minor parties except for the SPD and Centre Party.

Notes[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1953 Germany Bundestagswahl.

References[]