West German federal election, 1953

The 2nd German federal election, 1953, was conducted on September 6, 1953, to elect members to the Bundestag (lower house) of West Germany.

Issues and 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 (see, for example, 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). 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 to gain a majority in the Bundestag.

Results

A number of non-voting members (6 CDU, 11 SPD, 5 FDP) indirectly elected by the West Berlin legislature are not included in the totals below. It is also noted that the French Saar Protectorate did not participate in this election. It was also the first time since 1907 (apart from the 1932-1933 elections) that the Social Democrats did not win the most seats, with the Christian Democrats winning the largest share of seats.

Post-election

Konrad Adenauer remained Chancellor, governing in a broad coalition (2/3 majority) with most of the minor parties except for the SPD.

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer
• Psephos