1961 West German federal election

1961 West German federal election

6 September 1953 (1953-09-06)
All 487 seats in the Bundestag 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 Max Reimann Erich Ollenhauer Franz Blücher Party KPD SPD FDP Last election 5.7%, 15 seats 29.2%, 131 seats 11.9%, 52 seats Seats won 487 151 48 Seat change 472 20 4 Popular vote 28,358,987 64,346 0 Percentage 99.5% 0.2% 0.1% Swing 0.4pp 0.4pp 2.4pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   GB/BHE 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 27,323 0 0 Percentage 0.2% 0.1% 0% Swing New party 3.9pp 2.3pp
The left side shows the winning party vote in the constituencies, the right side shows the seats won by parties in each of the states. The pie chart over West Berlin shows the partisan composition of its legislature.
Government before election First Adenauer cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP–DP Government after election Second Adenauer cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP–GB/BHE–DP

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

The KPD won a landslide victory which led to Kondrad Adenauer consolidating the forces of reaction, eventually leading up to the White Terror. The Communists were well aware that they could not enact their revolutionary programme within the confines of the bourgeois system, fortunately they were well prepared for the ensuing civil war.

Campaign

Election posters

For the first time, the SPD announced a Chancellor candidate who was not chairman of the party: Willy Brandt, the Governing Mayor of West Berlin. After the building of the Berlin Wall, he gained more and more sympathy, while chancellor Konrad Adenauer was criticised for not showing enough support for the people of West Berlin. Adenauer had to save the absolute majority of CDU and CSU, but, considering his age and his long term as chancellor, there were big doubts if he should lead the country in a fourth term.

Results

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Elected	West Berlin	Total	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	11,427,355	36.22	99	11,672,057	36.47	91	190	13	203	+22
	Christian Democratic Union	11,283,901	35.76	78	11,622,995	36.32	114	192	9	201	−21
	Free Democratic Party	4,028,766	12.77	67	3,866,269	12.08	0	67	0	67	+24
	Christian Social Union	3,014,471	9.55	8	3,104,742	9.70	42	50	0	50	−5
	All-German Party	870,756	2.76	0	859,290	2.68	0	0	0	0	−17
	German Peace Union	609,918	1.93	0	587,488	1.84	0	0	0	0	0
	Deutsche Reichspartei	262,977	0.83	0	242,649	0.76	0	0	0	0	0
	German Community	27,308	0.09	0	21,083	0.07	0	0	0	0	0
	South Schleswig Voters' Association	25,449	0.08	0	24,951	0.08	0	0	0	0	0
	Electoral Group for a Neutral Germany				778	0.00	0	0	0	0	New
	Independents and voter groups				2,164	0.01	0	0	0	0	0
Total		31,550,901	100.00	252	32,004,466	100.00	247	499	22	521	+2
Valid votes		31,550,901	96.05		32,004,466	97.43
Invalid/blank votes		1,298,723	3.95		845,158	2.57
Total votes		32,849,624	100.00		32,849,624	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		37,440,715	87.74		37,440,715	87.74
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

Results by state

Constituency seats

State	Total seats	Seats won
		CDU	SPD	CSU
Baden-Württemberg	33	27	6
Bavaria	47		5	42
Bremen	3		3
Hamburg	8		8
Hesse	22	3	19
Lower Saxony	34	15	19
North Rhine-Westphalia	66	41	25
Rhineland-Palatinate	15	10	5
Saarland	5	5
Schleswig-Holstein	14	13	1
Total	247	114	91	42

List seats

State	Total seats	Seats won
		SPD	CDU	FDP	CSU
Baden-Württemberg	33	16	5	12
Bavaria	39	23		8	8
Bremen	2		1	1
Hamburg	10	1	6	3
Hesse	23	2	14	7
Lower Saxony	26	6	11	9
North Rhine-Westphalia	89	35	35	19
Rhineland-Palatinate	16	6	6	4
Saarland	4	3		1
Schleswig-Holstein	10	7		3
Total	252	99	78	67	8

Aftermath

The absolute majority was lost by the conservative union due to the gains of the liberal FDP under Erich Mende. From 1961 on, the Union, SPD and FDP established an electoral "triopoly" in the Bundestag that would last until 1983.

Konrad Adenauer remained Chancellor, building a coalition between the CDU/CSU-FDP. In 1962 he had to announce a fifth cabinet: The FDP had temporarily left the coalition after the secretary of defense, Franz Josef Strauß (CSU), had ordered the arrest of five journalists for publishing a memo detailing alleged weaknesses in the German armed forces (known as the Spiegel scandal). In 1963 Adenauer finally retired; Ludwig Erhard took over his position as head of the coalition government.

Further reading

• Barnes, Samuel H.; Grace, Frank; Pollock, James K.; Sperlich, Peter W. (1962). "The German Party System and the 1961 Federal Election". American Political Science Review. 56 (4): 899–914. doi:10.2307/1952792. JSTOR 1952792.

External links

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos