1953 West German federal election

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.

1953 West German federal election
6 September 1953 (1953-09-06)[1]
All 509 seats in the Bundestag
255 seats needed for a majority
Registered33,120,940 6.1%
Turnout28,479,550 (86.0%)[2]
7.5%
  First party Second party Third party
 
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%
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.
Chancellor before election

Konrad Adenauer
CDU/CSU

 Elected Chancellor

Konrad Adenauer
CDU/CSU

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.[3][4] 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.

References
  1. "Wahl zum 2. Deutschen Bundestag am 6. September 1953" (in German). Bundeswahlleiter. Archived from the original on 29 March 2009. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  2. "Voter turnout by election year". Website of the Federal Returning Officer's Office. The Federal Returning Officer. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  3. Erling Bjöl, Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West, "A Giant Dwarf: West Germany," Helsinki: WSOY, 1985
  4. 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
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