1957 West German federal election

1957 West German federal election

15 September 1957 (1957-09-15)
All 497 seats in the Bundestag 249 seats needed for a majority
Registered	35,400,923 6.9%
Turnout	31,072,894 (87.8%) 1.8pp
First party Second party   x160px Candidate Konrad Adenauer Erich Ollenhauer Party CDU/CSU SPD Last election 45.2%, 243 seats 28.8%, 151 seats Seats won 270 169 Seat change 27 18 Popular vote 15,008,399 9,495,571 Percentage 50.2% 31.8% Swing 5.0pp 3.0pp   Third party Fourth party   DP Candidate Reinhold Maier Heinrich Hellwege Party FDP DP Last election 9.5%, 48 seats 3.3%, 15 seats Seats won 41 17 Seat change 7 2 Popular vote 2,307,135 1,007,282 Percentage 7.7% 3.4% Swing 1.8pp 0.1pp
350px 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/CSU–FDP–DP Government after election Third Adenauer cabinet CDU/CSU–DP

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.

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.

300px
Party		Constituency			Party list			Total seats	+/–
		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%

Results by state

Constituency seats

State	Total seats	Seats won
		CDU	CSU	SPD	DP	FDP
Baden-Württemberg	33	32		1
Bavaria	47		47
Bremen	3			3
Hamburg	8	1		7
Hesse	22	11		10	1
Lower Saxony	34	21		8	5
North Rhine-Westphalia	66	53		13
Rhineland-Palatinate	15	12		3
Saarland	5	3		1		1
Schleswig-Holstein	14	14
Total	247	147	47	46	6	1

List seats

State	Total seats	Seats won
		SPD	CDU	FDP	DP	CSU
Baden-Württemberg	34	17	5	11	1
Bavaria	35	25		4		6
Bremen	3		2		1
Hamburg	11	2	6	2	1
Hesse	24	9	9	4	2
Lower Saxony	27	14	6	4	3
North Rhine-Westphalia	88	41	34	11	2
Rhineland-Palatinate	16	7	6	3
Saarland	3	1				2
Schleswig-Holstein	9	7		1	1
Total	250	123	68	40	11	8

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).