1953 West German federal election

1953 West German federal election

6 September 1953 (1953-09-06)
All 509 seats in the Bundestag 255 seats needed for a majority
Registered	33,120,940 6.1%
Turnout	28,479,550 (86.0%) 7.5%
First party Second party Third party   x160px Leader Konrad Adenauer Erich Ollenhauer Franz Blücher Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Leader since 21 October 1950 27 September 1952 1949 Leader's seat Bonn Stadt Hannover-Süd North Rhine-Westphalia Last election 144 seats, 31.0% 140 seats, 29.2% 57 seats, 11.9% Seats won 249 162 53 Seat change 105 22 4 Popular vote 12,443,981 7,944,943 2,629,163 Percentage 45.2% 28.8% 9.5% Swing 14.2% 0.4% 2.4%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Waldemar Kraft Heinrich Hellwege Johannes Brockmann Party GB/BHE DP Centre Leader since 1951 23 May 1946 1953 Leader's seat Schleswig-Holstein Stade – Bremervörde Oberhausen Last election Did not exist 17 seats, 4.0% 10 seats, 3.1% Seats won 27 15 3 Seat change 27 2 7 Popular vote 1,616,953 896,128 217,078 Percentage 5.9% 3.3% 0.8% Swing New party 0.7% 2.3%
350px 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

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 6 September 1953 to elect 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. 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

 Summary of the 6 September 1953 German Bundestag election results

Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Seats	+/−	%
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	9,577,659	34.8	+9.6	130	+39	10,016,594	36.4	+11.2	61	+37	197	+77	38.7
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	8,131,257	29.5	+0.3	45	−51	7,944,943	28.8	−0.4	106	+71	162	+22	31.8
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	2,967,566	10.8	−1.1	14	+2	2,629,163	9.5	−2.4	34	−6	53	−4	10.4
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	2,450,286	8.9	+3.1	42	+18	2,427,387	8.8	+3.0	10	+10	52	+28	10.2
	All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB/BHE)	1,613,215	5.9	+5.9	0	±0	1,616,953	5.9	+5.9	27	+27	27	+27	5.3
	German Party (DP)	1,073,031	3.9	–0.1	10	+5	896,128	3.3	−0.7	5	−7	15	-2	2.9
	Centre Party (Zentrum)	55,835	0.2	-2.9	1	+1	217,078	0.8	-2.3	2	−8	3	−7	0.6
	Communist Party (KPD)	611,317	2.2	−3.5	0	±0	607,860	2.2	−3.5	0	−15	0	−15	0
	Bavaria Party (BP)	399,070	1.5	−2.7	0	−11	465,641	1.7	−2.5	0	−6	0	−17	0
	All-German People's Party (GVP)	286,465	1.0	+1.0	0	±0	318,475	1.2	+1.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	German Reich Party (DRP)	204,725	0.7	−1.1	0	±0	295,739	1.1	−0.7	0	−5	0	−5	0
	Dachverband der Nationalen Sammlung (DNS)	78,356	0.3	+0.3	0	±0	70,726	0.3	+0.3	0	±0	0	±0	0
	South Schleswig Voter Federation (SSW)	44,339	0.2	−0.1	0	±0	44,585	0.2	−0.1	0	−1	0	−1	0
	Schleswig-Holsteinische Bauern- und Landarbeiterdemokratie (SHBLD)	6,269	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Patriotic Union	2,531	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Party of the Good Germans	654	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Electoral groups and independents	17,185	0.1	−4.7	0	−3	–	–	–	–	–	0	−3	0
Invalid/blank votes		959,790	—	—	—	—	928,278	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Totals		28,479,550	100	±0.0	242	±0	28,479,550	100	±0.0	245	+85	509	+88	±0
Registered voters/turnout		33,120,940	86.0	—	—	—	33,120,940	86.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
Source: Federal Returning Officer

^† — includes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (11 SPD, 6 CDU, 5 FDP).

^‡ — previously the German Right Party.

↓

249	53	27	15	162
CDU/CSU	FDP	GB/BHE	DP	SPD

Popular Vote
CDU/CSU			45.17%
SPD			28.84%
FDP			9.54%
GB/BHE			5.87%
DP			3.25%
KPD			2.21%
BP			1.69%
GVP			1.16%
DRP			1.07%
Zentrum			0.79%
Other			0.42%

Bundestag seats
CDU/CSU			48.92%
SPD			31.83%
FDP			10.42%
GB/BHE			5.30%
DP			2.95%
Zentrum			0.59%

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.