1957 West German federal election

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.

1957 West German federal election

← 1953 15 September 1957 (1957-09-15) 1961 →

All 497 seats in the Bundestag[a]
249 seats needed for a majority
Registered35,400,923 Increase 6.9%
Turnout31,072,894 (87.8%) Increase 1.8pp
  First party Second party
 
Konrad Adenauer - 7. CDU-Bundesparteitag-kasf0031 (cropped).JPG
Gedenktafel Trautenauer Str 6 (Karlh) Erich Ollenhauer (cropped).jpg
Candidate Konrad Adenauer Erich Ollenhauer
Party CDU/CSU SPD
Last election 45.2%, 243 seats 28.8%, 151 seats
Seats won 270[b] 169[c]
Seat change Increase 27 Increase 18
Popular vote 15,008,399 9,495,571
Percentage 50.2% 31.8%
Swing Increase 5.0pp Increase 3.0pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
Schwaebisch Gmuend Mai 2013 022 (cropped).JPG
Heinrich Hellwege.jpg
Candidate Reinhold Maier Heinrich Hellwege
Party FDP DP
Last election 9.5%, 48 seats 3.3%, 15 seats
Seats won 41[d] 17
Seat change Decrease 7 Increase 2
Popular vote 2,307,135 1,007,282
Percentage 7.7% 3.4%
Swing Decrease 1.8pp Increase 0.1pp

The left side shows the winning party vote in the constituencies, the right side shows the seats won by parties in each of the states. The pie chart over West Berlin shows the partisan composition of its legislature.

Government before election

Second Adenauer cabinet
CDU/CSUFDPDP

Government after election

Third Adenauer cabinet
CDU/CSUDP

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

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Economy

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Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer had some solid advantages over his Social Democratic Party (SPD) opponent, Erich Ollenhauer; West Germany had become fully sovereign in 1955 and The Law on Pension Reform (backdated to 1 January 1957) was enormously popular when passed in the spring of 1957, while the economy had been growing on average 7% per year since 1953 in part due to young, skilled and highly educated workers immigrating from East Germany keeping productivity high and earnings growth low.[1] West Germany 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.[2][3]

Defence

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Although Adenauer had said that he would confine the Bundeswehr to conventional weapons, on 5 April he said "Tactical atomic weapons are nothing but the further development of artillery... it goes without saying that... we cannot dispense with having them for our troops... we must follow suit and have these new types – they are, after all, practically normal weapons." On 12 April eighteen physicists from the Max Planck Institute released the Göttingen Manifesto calling on West Germany to not produce, test or use nuclear weapons. Adenauer at first tried to brush the matter aside, but under heavy criticism from the press decided instead to meet with five of the physicists in Bonn. After a seven-hour meeting a joint communique was issued saying "The Federal Republic will not produce its own nuclear weapons, and consequently the Federal Government has no reason to approach German nuclear scientists about their participation in the development of nuclear weapons." The row continued, having been fuelled by an aggressive note from the Soviet Union in April and ended at the NATO Spring conference in May. Ultimately the row was too far away from the election itself to damage a surprisingly healthy looking Adenauer's prospects.[1]

Results

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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. The election also marked the last time until 1990 that any party other than CDU/CSU or SPD won any constituency seats.

 
PartyParty-listConstituencySeats
Votes%SeatsVotes%SeatsElectedWest BerlinTotal+/–
Christian Democratic Union11,875,33939.716811,975,40039.711472157222+25
Social Democratic Party9,495,57131.751239,651,66932.014616912181+19
Christian Social Union3,133,06010.4883,186,15010.574755055+2
Free Democratic Party2,307,1357.71402,276,2347.55141243–10
All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights1,374,0664.5901,324,6364.390000–27
German Party1,007,2823.37111,062,2933.52617017+2
Deutsche Reichspartei308,5641.030290,6220.9600000
Federalist Union254,3220.850295,5330.980000New
Bund der Deutschen58,7250.20037,3290.120000New
German Middle Class36,5920.1203,0240.010000New
South Schleswig Voters' Association32,2620.11033,4630.1100000
German Community17,4900.06016,4100.050000New
Patriotic Union5,0200.0202,2500.0100000
Party of the Good Germans3560.0000000
Free German People's Party011New
Independents and voter groups8450.0000000
Total29,905,428100.0025030,156,214100.0024749722519+10
Valid votes29,905,42896.2430,156,21497.05
Invalid/blank votes1,167,4663.76916,6802.95
Total votes31,072,894100.0031,072,894100.00
Registered voters/turnout35,400,92387.7735,400,92387.77
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

Results by state

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Constituency seats

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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

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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

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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).

Notes

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  1. ^ As well as the 22 non-voting delegates for West Berlin, elected by the West Berlin Legislature.
  2. ^ As well as 7 non-voting delegates for West Berlin.
  3. ^ As well as 12 non-voting delegates for West Berlin.
  4. ^ As well as 3 non-voting delegates for West Berlin.

References

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  1. ^ a b Charles Williams (2000) Adenauer: The Father of the New Germany, pp442–445
  2. ^ Erling Bjöl, Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West, "A Giant Dwarf: West Germany," Helsinki: WSOY, 1985
  3. ^ 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