West German federal election, 1957
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
All 519 seats in the Bundestag 260 seats needed for a majority |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnout | 87.8% (voting eligible)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Election results (party list) by state: the lighter blue denotes states where CDU had the plurality of votes; darker blue denotes states where CDU/CSU had the absolute majority of the votes; and pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
28
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Federal elections were held in West Germany on 15 September 1957. The Christian Democratic Union remained the largest party in the Bundestag, winning 277 seats.
Issues and Campaign
Federal Chancellor Adenauer had some solid advantages over his Social Democratic opponent, Erich Ollenhauer: West Germany had become fully sovereign in 1955, it had joined the European Economic Community in March 1957, its economy grew steadily with a very low unemployment, and most West Germans felt clearly more prosperous and more secure than in 1949 or 1953. Although the West German economic growth was more directly enhanced by the social market economy policies of Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard, most non-socialistically inclined West German voters gave Adenauer the credit for it.[3][4]
Results
| Parties | Constituency | Party list | Total seats | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | +/− | Seats | +/− | Votes | % | +/− | Seats | +/− | Seats† | +/− | % | ||||
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 11,975,400 | 39.7 | +4.9 | 147 | +17 | 11,875,339 | 39.7 | +3.3 | 68 | +7 | 222 | +25 | 42.8 | |||
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 9,651,669 | 32.0 | +2.5 | 46 | +1 | 9,495,571 | 31.8 | +3.0 | 123 | +17 | 181 | +19 | 34.9 | |||
| Christian Social Union (CSU) | 3,186,150 | 10.6 | +1.7 | 47 | +5 | 3,133,060 | 10.5 | +1.7 | 8 | −2 | 55 | +3 | 10.6 | |||
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 2,276,234 | 7.5 | −3.3 | 1 | −13 | 2,307,135 | 7.7 | −1.8 | 40 | +6 | 44 | −9 | 8.5 | |||
| All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB/BHE) | 1,324,636 | 4.4 | −1.5 | 0 | ±0 | 1,374,066 | 4.6 | −1.3 | 0 | −27 | 0 | −27 | 0 | |||
| German Party (DP) | 1,062,293 | 3.5 | −0.4 | 6 | −4 | 1,007,282 | 3.4 | +0.1 | 11 | +6 | 17 | +2 | 3.3 | |||
| German Reich Party (DRP) | 290,622 | 1.0 | +0.3 | 0 | ±0 | 308,564 | 1.0 | −0.1 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |||
| Federalist Union (FU) | 295,533 | 1.0 | +1.0 | 0 | ±0 | 254,322 | 0.9 | +0.9 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |||
| Alliance of Germans (BdD) | 37,329 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ±0 | 58,725 | 0.2 | +0.2 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |||
| South Schleswig Voter Federation (SSW) | 33,463 | 0.1 | −0.1 | 0 | ±0 | 32,262 | 0.1 | −0.1 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |||
| German Community (DG) | 16,410 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ±0 | 17,490 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |||
| German Middle Class (Mittelstand) | 3,024 | 0.0 | +0.0 | 0 | ±0 | 36,592 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |||
| Patriotic Union (VU) | 2,250 | 0.0 | ±0.0 | 0 | ±0 | 5,020 | 0.0 | +0.0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |||
| Party of the Good Germans (PdgD) | 356 | 0.0 | +0.0 | 0 | ±0 | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |||
| Electoral groups and independents | 845 | 0.0 | −0.1 | 0 | ±0 | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 916,680 | — | — | — | — | 1,167,466 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Total | 31,072,894 | 100 | ±0.0 | 247 | +5 | 31,072,894 | 100 | ±0.0 | 250 | +5 | 519 | +10 | ±0 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 35,400,923 | 87.8 | — | — | — | 35,400,923 | 87.8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Source: Federal Returning Officer | ||||||||||||||||
- ^† — includes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (12 SPD, 7 CDU, 3 FDP).
| 277 | 181 | 43 | 17 |
| CDU/CSU | SPD | FDP | DP |
Aftermath
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).
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />, or <references group="..." />| Parliamentary elections |
|
|---|---|
| Presidential elections | |
| European elections | |
| Referendums | |
|
|
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Erling Bjöl, Grimberg's History of the Nations, volume 23: The Rich West, "A Giant Dwarf: West Germany," Helsinki: WSOY, 1985
- ↑ 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
