1953 West German federal election

1953 West German federal election
6 September 1953 (1953-09-06)
All 487 seats in the Bundestag
244 seats needed for a majority
Registered33,120,940 ( 6.1%)
Turnout86.0% ( 7.5pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Candidate Konrad Adenauer Erich Ollenhauer Franz Blücher
Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP
Last election 31.0%, 139 seats 29.2%, 131 seats 11.9%, 52 seats
Seats won 243 151 48
Seat change 104 20 4
Popular vote 12,443,981 7,944,943 2,629,163
Percentage 45.2% 28.8% 9.5%
Swing 14.2 pp 0.4 pp 2.4 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Candidate Waldemar Kraft Heinrich Hellwege Johannes Brockmann
Party GB/BHE DP Centre
Last election Did not exist 4.0%, 17 seats 3.1%, 10 seats
Seats won 27 15 3
Seat change New party 2 7
Popular vote 1,616,953 896,128 217,078
Percentage 5.9% 3.3% 0.8%
Swing New party 0.7 pp 2.3 pp
Government before election

First Adenauer cabinet
CDU/CSU–FDP–DP

 Government after election

Second Adenauer cabinet
CDU/CSU–FDP–GB/BHE–DP

Federal elections were held in West Germany on 6 September 1953 to elect the members of the second Bundestag. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged as the largest party.

This was the last election before Saarland joined West Germany in 1957. It had been a separate entity, Saar protectorate, under French control since 1946.

The CDU/CSU formed a center-right coalition government with the FDP, DP and GB/BHE, leaving the SPD as the main opposition. In comparison to the 1949 election where ten parties won seats, only six parties won seats in the 1953 election, thus entailing a consolidation of the party system.

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