From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1953 West German federal election
|
|
|
|
| Registered
| 33,120,940
 6.1%
|
|---|
| Turnout
| 28,479,550 (86.0%)
7.5
pp
|
|---|
|
|
First party
|
Second party
|
Third party
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Candidate
|
Konrad Adenauer
|
Erich Ollenhauer
|
Franz Blucher
|
| Party
|
CDU/CSU
|
SPD
|
FDP
|
| Last election
|
31.0%, 139 seats
|
29.2%, 131 seats
|
11.9%, 52 seats
|
| Seats won
|
243
[b]
|
151
[c]
|
48
[d]
|
| 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
|
|
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
|
|
 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.
|
|
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.
This elections were the last before
Saarland
joined West Germany in 1957. It had been a separate entity,
Saar protectorate
, under French control since 1946.
Campaign
[
edit
]
Federal Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer
(who was also CDU leader) campaigned on his policies of
economic reconstruction
and growth, moderate conservatism or Christian democracy, and close relations with the United States. During the campaign he attacked the
Social Democratic Party
(SPD) ferociously. His staff had a comfortable coach on a train previously used only by
Hermann Goring
and behind that a dining car with sleeping berths for journalists.
[1]
The new SPD 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. He later ? in 1957 ? supported a military alliance of most European countries, including Germany.
[2]
[3]
On 3 September American Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles
said that "A defeat for Adenauer would have catastrophic consequences for the prospects for German reunification and the restoration of sovereignty" and that it would "trigger off such confusion in Germany that further delays in German efforts for reunification and freedom would be unavoidable."
[1]
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 Democratic Party
and the conservative
German Party
to gain a majority in the Bundestag.
Results
[
edit
]
 |
|---|
| Party
| Party-list
| Constituency
| Seats
|
|---|
| Votes
| %
| Seats
| Votes
| %
| Seats
| Elected
| West Berlin
| Total
| +/?
|
|---|
| Christian Democratic Union
| 10,016,594
| 36.36
| 61
| 9,577,659
| 34.80
| 130
| 191
| 6
| 197
| +80
|
| Social Democratic Party
| 7,944,943
| 28.84
| 106
| 8,131,257
| 29.55
| 45
| 151
| 11
| 162
| +26
|
| Free Democratic Party
| 2,629,163
| 9.54
| 34
| 2,967,566
| 10.78
| 14
| 48
| 5
| 53
| 0
|
| Christian Social Union
| 2,427,387
| 8.81
| 10
| 2,450,286
| 8.90
| 42
| 52
| 0
| 52
| +28
|
| All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights
| 1,616,953
| 5.87
| 27
| 1,613,215
| 5.86
| 0
| 27
| 0
| 27
| New
|
| German Party
| 896,128
| 3.25
| 5
| 1,073,031
| 3.90
| 10
| 15
| 0
| 15
| ?2
|
| Communist Party
| 607,860
| 2.21
| 0
| 611,317
| 2.22
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| ?15
|
| Bavaria Party
| 465,641
| 1.69
| 0
| 399,070
| 1.45
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| ?17
|
| All-German People's Party
| 318,475
| 1.16
| 0
| 286,465
| 1.04
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Deutsche Reichspartei
| 295,739
| 1.07
| 0
| 204,725
| 0.74
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| ?5
|
| Centre Party
| 217,078
| 0.79
| 2
| 55,835
| 0.20
| 1
| 3
| 0
| 3
| ?7
|
| Dachverband der Nationalen Sammlung
| 70,726
| 0.26
| 0
| 78,356
| 0.28
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| South Schleswig Voters' Association
| 44,585
| 0.16
| 0
| 44,339
| 0.16
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| ?1
|
| Schleswig-Holstein Farmers and Farmworkers Democracy
| | 6,269
| 0.02
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Patriotic Union
| | 2,531
| 0.01
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Party of the Good Germans
| | 654
| 0.00
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Independents
and voter groups
| | 17,185
| 0.06
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| ?3
|
| Total
| 27,551,272
| 100.00
| 245
| 27,519,760
| 100.00
| 242
| 487
| 22
| 509
| +99
|
|
| Valid votes
| 27,551,272
| 96.74
| | 27,519,760
| 96.63
| | |
|---|
| Invalid/blank votes
| 928,278
| 3.26
| | 959,790
| 3.37
| | |
|---|
| Total votes
| 28,479,550
| 100.00
| | 28,479,550
| 100.00
| | |
|---|
| Registered voters/turnout
| 33,120,940
| 85.99
| | 33,120,940
| 85.99
| | |
|---|
| Source:
Bundeswahlleiter
|
Results by state
[
edit
]
Constituency seats
[
edit
]
List seats
[
edit
]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Charles Williams (2000)
Adenauer: The Father of the New Germany
, p407
- ^
Erling Bjol, Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West, "A Giant Dwarf: West Germany," Helsinki: WSOY, 1985
- ^
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
