1950 Hessian state election

The 1950 Hessian state election was held on 19 November 1950 to elect the 2nd Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a grand coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Minister-President Christian Stock, who retired at the election. He was succeeded as SPD lead candidate by Georg-August Zinn.

1950 Hessian state election

19 November 1950
All 80 seats in the Landtag of Hesse 41 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	1,936,762 (64.9% 8.3pp)
First party Second party   Candidate Georg-August Zinn August-Martin Euler Party SPD FDP–GB/BHE Last election 38 seats, 42.7% 14 seats, 15.7% Seats won 47 21 Seat change 9 7 Popular vote 821,268 588,739 Percentage 44.4% 31.8% Swing 1.7pp 16.1pp   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Werner Hilpert Party CDU KPD Last election 28 seats, 31.0% 10 seats, 10.7% Seats won 12 0 Seat change 16 10 Popular vote 348,148 87,878 Percentage 18.8% 4.7% Swing 12.1pp 5.9pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election Stock cabinet SPD–CDU Government after election First Zinn cabinet SPD

The SPD won a clear majority of seats thanks to quirks of the electoral system, which had been modified since 1946 to a form of mixed-member proportional representation. The Hessian CDU, who took a left-of-centre course in government with the SPD, were heavily defeated and pushed to third place with 19%. An alliance of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and All-German Bloc/League of Expellees (GB/HBE) emerged as the second-largest party with 32%, but were unable to prevent the SPD from achieving its majority. Further, the Communist Party (KPD) slipped just below the 5% electoral threshold and lost their seats. After the election, Minister-President Stock retired and was succeeded by justice minister Georg-August Zinn, who led an SPD majority government.

Electoral system

The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 48 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and 32 then allocated using compensatory proportional representation. A single ballot was used for both. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes is applied to the Landtag; parties that fall below this threshold are ineligible to receive seats.

Background

Main article: December 1946 Hessian state election

In the previous election held on 1 December 1946, the SPD remained the largest party with 43%, followed by the CDU on 31%, FDP on 16%, and KPD on 11%. The SPD subsequently formed a grand coalition with the CDU.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 1st Landtag of Hesse.

Name			Ideology	Lead candidate	1946 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Georg-August Zinn	42.7%	38 / 90
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Werner Hilpert	31.0%	28 / 90
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	August-Martin Euler	15.7%	14 / 90
	KPD	Communist Party of Germany Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands	Communism		10.7%	10 / 90

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					Con.	List	Total	+–
	Social Democratic Party	821,268	44.37	+1.65	36	11	47	+9
	Free Democratic Party–All-German Bloc/League of Expellees	588,739	31.81	+16.13	8	13	21	+7
	Christian Democratic Union	348,148	18.81	–12.15	4	8	12	–16
	Communist Party	87,878	4.75	–5.91	0	0	0	–10
	National Democratic Party–German Reich Party	1,989	0.11	New	0	0	0	New
	Hessian Farmers' and Peasants' Party	1,219	0.07	New	0	0	0	New
	Bloc of Fatherland Unification	765	0.04	New	0	0	0	New
	Independents	1,081	0.06	+0.06	0	–	0	0
Total		1,851,087	100.00	–	48	32	80	–10
Valid votes		1,851,087	95.58
Invalid/blank votes		85,675	4.42
Total votes		1,936,762	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,985,021	64.88

External links

• "The Election to the Hessian Landtag, 19 November 1950" (PDF). Parliamentary Data Bank of the Hessian Landtag (in German). March 1951. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
• "Absolute majority of the SPD in state elections in Hesse, November 19, 1950". Hessian Regional History Information System (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2023.