1954 West German presidential election

An indirect presidential election (officially the 2nd Federal Convention) was held in West Germany on 17 July 1954. The government parties and the opposition SPD renominated incumbent Theodor Heuss. Against his wishes, the Communist Party of Germany nominated Alfred Weber. Heuss was reelected on the first ballot with about 85% of the vote.

1954 West German presidential election

← 1949 17 July 1954 1959 →
 
Nominee Theodor Heuss Alfred Weber
Party FDP KPD
Electoral vote 871 12

President before election

Theodor Heuss
FDP

Elected President

Theodor Heuss
FDP

Composition of the Federal Convention

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The president is elected by the Federal Convention consisting of all the members of the Bundestag and an equal number of delegates representing the states. These are divided proportionally by population to each state, and each state's delegation is divided among the political parties represented in its parliament so as to reflect the partisan proportions in the parliament.

By party By state
Party Members State Members
CDU/CSU 431 Bundestag 509
SPD 347 Baden-Württemberg 68
FDP 112 Bavaria 91
DP 15 Berlin 22
BP 15 Bremen 6
Z 12 Hamburg 17
KPD 10 Hesse 44
Hamburg-Block 9 Lower Saxony 65
SSW 1 North Rhine-Westphalia 141
DRP 1 Rhineland-Palatinate 32
Independents 4 Schleswig-Holstein 23
Total 1018 Total 1018

Source: Eine Dokumentation aus Anlass der Wahl des Bundespräsidenten am 18. März 2012

Results

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Candidate Parties Votes %
Theodor Heuss CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, DP 871 85.6
Alfred Weber KPD 12 1.2
Others1 6 0.6
Abstentions 95 9.3
Invalid votes 3 0.3
Not cast 31 3.0
Total 1,018 100
Source: Bundestag

Note:1. In addition to the two formally nominated candidates President of the Reich Karl Dönitz, Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, Marie Elisabeth Lüders, Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, Franz-Josef Wuermeling, and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer received one vote each.

References

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