1950 Bavarian state election

The 1950 Bavarian state election was held on 26 November 1950 to elect the members of the 2nd Landtag of Bavaria. It is notable for featuring the worst performance of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria in any Bavarian state election, at only 27.4% of the vote, and for being the only Bavarian election in which the SPD won a plurality of the combined vote.[1][2]

1950 Bavarian state election

26 November 1950

All 204 seats in the Landtag of Bavaria
103 seats needed for a majority
Registered6,026,641
Turnout4,813,528 (79.9%)
4.2%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Alois Hundhammer Jean Stock Joseph Baumgartner
Party CSU SPD BP
Seats won 64 63 39
Seat change 40 9 39
Popular vote 2,527,370 2,588,549 1,657,713
Percentage 27.4% 28.0% 17.9%
Swing 24.9% 0.6% 17.9%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Theodor Oberländer Thomas Dehler
Party GB/BHE FDP
Seats won 26 12
Seat change 26 3
Popular vote 1,136,148 653,741
Percentage 12.2% 7.1%
Swing 12.2% 1.4%

Minister-President before election

Hans Ehard
CSU

Elected Minister-President

Hans Ehard
CSU

Background

After the 1946 state elections, the CSU had won a majority of seats in the Landtag, and proceeded to form a coalition government with the SPD and right-wing populist WAV under Minister-President Hans Ehard. The coalition, however, was short lived. On 20 June 1947, WAV party chairman and Minister for Denazification Alfred Loritz was ousted by his fellow party-members over a power struggle involving a fellow state delegate, Karl Meissner. Four days later, on 24 June, Loritz was dismissed from his post on charges of blackmail and patronage. He subsequently was arrested on 19 July 1947, before escaping custody, being re-arrested, and eventually found asylum in Switzerland in April 1948.[3] In his place, a CSU attorney, Ludwig Hagenauer was appointed. Only three months after the Loritz episode, all of the SPD ministers within the government resigned, ending the coalition government, which lasted for under a year. The CSU then ruled alone (still as a majority government) for the remaining three years. In the intervening time, Ehard mainly battled with other member of his party to pass the Basic Law.[4] The electoral system was changed since the 1946 election, now every voter has two votes. One for local district candidate (first vote) and one for a constituency candidate (second vote).

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the First Landtag of Bavaria.

Name Ideology Leader(s) December 1946 result
Votes (%) Seats
CSU Christian Social Union in Bavaria
Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern
Christian democracy Alois Hundhammer 52.3
104 / 180
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
Social democracy Jean Stock 28.6
54 / 180
WAV Economic Reconstruction Union
Wirtschaftliche Aufbau-Vereinigung
Right-wing populism Alfred Loritz 7.4
13 / 180
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei
Liberalism Thomas Dehler 5.7
9 / 180

Results

With the WAV now essentially collapsed due to factional disputes, the right-wing vote was scattered over several different parties, the most important being the GB/BHE and the Bavaria Party, which capitalized on nationalism and took votes away from both the WAV and CSU. With the right-wing vote now spread thin, the SPD captured a majority of the first and second votes combined, but were still one seat off of being tied with the CSU's delegation, and neither party being close to a majority. After 17 days of negotiations, a mass coalition between the CSU, SPD, and GB/BHE was declared. On 18 December 1950, Hans Ehard received 131 votes in the Landtag to serve a second term as Minister-President, with 5 votes against, and 36 members abstaining.[5]

Summary of the 26 November 1950 election results of the Landtag of Bavaria

Party Votes % +/- Seats +/- Seats %
Christian Social Union (CSU) 2,527,370 27.4 24.9 64 40 31.4
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 2,588,549 28.0 0.6 63 9 30.8
Bavaria Party 1,657,713 17.9 17.9 39 39 19.1
All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB/BHE) 1,136,148 12.3 12.3 26 26 7.8
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 653,741 7.1 1.4 12 3 5.9
Economic Reconstruction Union (WAV) 259,687 2.8 4.6 0 13 0
Communist Party (KPD) 177,768 1.9 4.2 0 ±0 0
Others 240,184 2.6 0 ±0 0
Total 9,621,691 100.0 204 +24
Voter turnout 79.9 9.3
Source: Statistik Bayern and Historisches Lexikon Bayerns


Popular Vote
SPD
28%
CSU
27.4%
BP
17.9%
GB/BHE
12.2%
FDP
7.1%
WAV
2.8%
KPD
1.9%
Other
2.6%
Landtag seats
CSU
31.4%
SPD
30.8%
BP
19.1%
GB/BHE
7.8%
FDP
5.9%

References

  1. Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed 30 May 2020
  2. "Election Results 1946-2018" (PDF).
  3. Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed 30 May 2020
  4. Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, accessed 30 May 2020
  5. Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, accessed 30 May 2020
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