1957 West German federal election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1957 West German federal election

← 1953 15 September 1957 (1957-09-15) 1961 →

All 497 seats in the Bundestag[a]
249 seats needed for a majority
Registered35,400,923 Increase 6.9%
Turnout31,072,894 (87.8%) Increase 1.8pp
  First party Second party
  Adenauer Bouserath2 (cropped).jpg Bundesarchiv Bild 183-21272-0001, Erich Ollenhauer.jpg
Candidate Konrad Adenauer Erich Ollenhauer
Party CDU/CSU SPD
Last election 45.2%, 243 seats 28.8%, 151 seats
Seats won 270[b] 169[c]
Seat change Increase 27 Increase 18
Popular vote 15,008,399 9,495,571
Percentage 50.2% 31.8%
Swing Increase 5.0pp Increase 3.0pp

  Third party Fourth party
  Reinhold Maier.jpg
DP
Candidate Reinhold Maier Heinrich Hellwege
Party FDP DP
Last election 9.5%, 48 seats 3.3%, 15 seats
Seats won 41[d] 17
Seat change Decrease 7 Increase 2
Popular vote 2,307,135 1,007,282
Percentage 7.7% 3.4%
Swing Decrease 1.8pp Increase 0.1pp

Bundestagswahl 1957 - Ergebnisse Wahlkreise.png
Results by constituency for the first votes. Grey denotes seats won by the CDU/CSU; red denotes seats won by the SPD; light blue denotes seats won by the German Party; yellow denotes the seat won by the FDP.

Government before election

Second Adenauer cabinet
CDU/CSUFDPDP

Government after election

Third Adenauer cabinet
CDU/CSUDP

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 15 September 1957 to elect the members of the third Bundestag. The Christian Democratic Union and its longtime ally, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, won a sweeping victory, taking 270 seats in the Bundestag to win the first – and to date, only – absolute majority for a single German parliamentary group in a free election.

This was the first West German federal election to take place in the Saarland, which – as Saar protectorate – had been a separate entity under French control between 1946 and 1956.

Campaign[]

Federal Chancellor Adenauer had some solid advantages over his Social Democratic opponent, Erich Ollenhauer; West Germany had become fully sovereign in 1955 and had joined the European Economic Community in March 1957. Its economy was growing steadily with very low unemployment, and most West Germans felt more prosperous and more secure than in 1949 or 1953. Although the West German economic growth was more directly enhanced by the social market economy policies of Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard, many West German voters gave Adenauer the credit for it.[1][2]

Results[]

The All-German Bloc lost all of their seats, but the ideologically similar German Party maintained theirs. The 1957 election was the last time that a right-wing populist party would return members to the Bundestag until Alternative for Germany's entrance in 2017.

Bundestag 1957.svg
Party Constituency Party list Total
seatsa
+/–
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 11,975,400 39.7 147 11,875,339 39.7 68 215 +24
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 9,651,669 32.0 46 9,495,571 31.8 123 169 +18
Christian Social Union (CSU) 3,186,150 10.6 47 3,133,060 10.5 8 55 +3
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 2,276,234 7.5 1 2,307,135 7.7 40 41 −7
All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB/BHE) 1,324,636 4.4 0 1,374,066 4.6 0 0 −27
German Party (DP) 1,062,293 3.5 6 1,007,282 3.4 11 17 +2
Deutsche Reichspartei (DRP) 290,622 1.0 0 308,564 1.0 0 0 0
Federalist Union (FU) 295,533 1.0 0 254,322 0.9 0 0 New
Alliance of Germans (BdD) 37,329 0.1 0 58,725 0.2 0 0 New
German Middle Class (Mittelstand) 3,024 0.0 0 36,592 0.1 0 0 New
South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW) 33,463 0.1 0 32,262 0.1 0 0 0
German Community (DG) 16,410 0.1 0 17,490 0.1 0 0 New
Patriotic Union (VU) 2,250 0.0 0 5,020 0.0 0 0 0
Party of the Good Germans (PdgD) 356 0.0 0 0 0
Independents and voter groups 845 0.0 0 0 0
Valid votes 30,156,214 97.0 29,905,428 96.2
Invalid/blank votes 916,680 3.0 1,167,466 3.8
Total votes 31,072,894 100.0 247 31,072,894 100.0 250 497 +10
Registered voters/turnout 35,400,923 87.8 35,400,923 87.8
Source: Bundeswahlleiter
^a – excludes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (12 SPD, 7 CDU, 3 FDP, 1 FVP).
270 17 169 41
CDU/CSU DP SPD FDP
Popular vote
CDU/CSU
50.19%
SPD
31.75%
FDP
7.71%
GB/BHE
4.59%
DP
3.37%
Other
2.38%
Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU
54.33%
SPD
34.00%
FDP
8.25%
DP
3.42%

Aftermath[]

Konrad Adenauer led the CDU-CSU coalition to a landslide victory. The CDU-CSU won an outright majority—to date, the only time a German party has been elected to a majority government in a free election (the CDU and CSU sit as a single bloc in the Bundestag).

Notes[]

  1. ^ As well as the 22 non-voting delegates for West Berlin, elected by the West Berlin Legislature.
  2. ^ As well as 7 non-voting delegates for West Berlin.
  3. ^ As well as 12 non-voting delegates for West Berlin.
  4. ^ As well as 3 non-voting delegates for West Berlin.

References[]

  1. ^ Erling Bjöl, Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West, "A Giant Dwarf: West Germany," Helsinki: WSOY, 1985
  2. ^ Dennis L. Bark and David R. Gress, A History of West Germany, volume 1: 1945–1963: From Shadow to Substance, London, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1989
Retrieved from ""