From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1961 West German federal election
|
|
|
|
Registered
| 37,440,715 (
5.8%)
|
---|
Turnout
| 87.7% (
0.1
pp
)
|
---|
|
First party
|
Second party
|
Third party
|
|
|
|
|
Candidate
|
Konrad Adenauer
|
Willy Brandt
|
Erich Mende
|
Party
|
CDU/CSU
|
SPD
|
FDP
|
Last election
|
50.2%, 270 seats
|
31.8%, 169 seats
|
7.7%, 41 seats
|
Seats won
|
242
[b]
|
190
[c]
|
67
|
Seat change
|
28
|
21
|
26
|
Popular vote
|
14,298,372
|
11,427,355
|
4,028,766
|
Percentage
|
45.3%
|
36.2%
|
12.8%
|
Swing
|
4.9pp
|
4.4pp
|
5.1pp
|
|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/1961_German_federal_election_-_Results_by_constituency.svg/333px-1961_German_federal_election_-_Results_by_constituency.svg.png) Results by constituency (left) and seats by state (right). The pie chart over West Berlin shows the composition of its legislature.
|
|
Federal elections
were held in
West Germany
on 17 September 1961 to elect the members of the fourth
Bundestag
. The
CDU/CSU
remained the largest faction, winning 242 of the 499 seats. However, the loss of its majority and the
All-German Party
losing all its seats led to the CDU having to negotiate a coalition with the long-term junior coalition partner, the
Free Democratic Party
, leading to a demand for long-term chancellor Konrad Adenauer to leave office in 1963, halfway through his term.
Campaign
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Bundestag_1961.svg/360px-Bundestag_1961.svg.png) |
---|
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
[
de
]
| 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
[
de
]
| 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
[
edit
]
Constituency seats
[
edit
]
List seats
[
edit
]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]