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Politics of Germany |
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Federal elections were held in West Germany on 6 September 1953. The Christian Democratic Union emerged as the largest party.
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.[1][2] 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
Party | Constituency | PR | Seats | +/– | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
Christian Democratic Union | 9,577,659 | 34.8 | 10,016,594 | 36.4 | 197 | +75 | |
Social Democratic Party | 8,131,257 | 29.5 | 7,944,943 | 28.8 | 162 | +17 | |
Free Democratic Party | 2,967,566 | 10.8 | 2,629,163 | 9.5 | 53 | –5 | |
Christian Social Union | 2,450,286 | 8.9 | 2,427,387 | 8.8 | 52 | +28 | |
All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights | 1,613,215 | 5.9 | 1,616,953 | 5.9 | 27 | New | |
German Party | 1,073,031 | 3.9 | 896,128 | 3.3 | 15 | –2 | |
Communist Party | 611,317 | 2.2 | 607,860 | 2.2 | 0 | –15 | |
Bavaria Party | 399,070 | 1.5 | 465,641 | 1.7 | 0 | –17 | |
All-German People's Party | 286,465 | 1.0 | 318,475 | 1.2 | 0 | New | |
Deutsche Rechtspartei | 204,725 | 0.7 | 295,739 | 1.1 | 0 | –5 | |
Dachverband der Nationalen Sammlung | 78,356 | 0.3 | 70,726 | 0.3 | 0 | New | |
Centre Party | 55,835 | 0.2 | 217,078 | 0.8 | 3 | –7 | |
South Schleswig Voter Federation | 44,339 | 0.2 | 44,585 | 0.2 | 0 | –1 | |
Schleswig-Holsteinische Bauern- und Landarbeiterdemokratie | 6,269 | 0.0 | – | – | 0 | New | |
Patriotic Union | 2,531 | 0.0 | – | – | 0 | New | |
Party of the Good Germans | 654 | 0.0 | – | – | 0 | New | |
Electoral groups and independents | 17,185 | 0.1 | – | – | 0 | –3 | |
Invalid/blank votes | 959,790 | – | 928,278 | – | – | – | |
Total | 28,479,550 | 100 | 28,479,550 | 100 | 509 | +80 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 33,120,940 | 86.0 | 33,120,940 | 86.0 | – | – | |
Source: Federal Returning Officer |
Aftermath
Konrad Adenauer remained Chancellor, governing in a broad coalition (two-thirds majority) with most of the minor parties except for the SPD.