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1961 West German federal election

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Field	Value
country	West Germany
type	parliamentary
previous_election	1957 West German federal election
previous_year	1957
election_date
next_election	1965 West German federal election
next_year	1965
outgoing_members	List of members of the 3rd Bundestag
elected_members	List of members of the 4th Bundestag
seats_for_election	All 499 seats in the Bundestag
majority_seats	250
registered	37,440,715 ( 5.8%)
turnout	87.7% ( 0.1pp)
image1
candidate1	Konrad Adenauer
party1	CDU/CSU
last_election1	50.2%, 270 seats
seats1	242
seat_change1	28
popular_vote1	14,298,372
percentage1	45.3%
swing1	4.9 pp
image2
candidate2	Willy Brandt
party2	Social Democratic Party of Germany
last_election2	31.8%, 169 seats
seats2	190
seat_change2	21
popular_vote2	11,427,355
percentage2	36.2%
swing2	4.4 pp
image3
candidate3	Erich Mende
party3	Free Democratic Party (Germany)
last_election3	7.7%, 41 seats
seats3	67
seat_change3	26
popular_vote3	4,028,766
percentage3	12.8%
swing3	5.1 pp
map_image	1961 West German federal election.svg
map_size	400px
map_caption	The left side shows constituency winners of the election by their party colours. The right side shows party list winners of the election for the additional members by their party colours.
title	Government
before_election	Third Adenauer cabinet
before_party	CDU/CSU
posttitle	Government after election
after_election	Fourth Adenauer cabinet
after_party	CDU/CSU-FDP

A federal election was held in West Germany on 17 September 1961 to elect the members of the fourth Bundestag. The CDU/CSU remained the largest faction, winning 242 of the 499 seats. However, the loss of its majority and the losing all its seats led to the CDU having to negotiate a coalition with the long-term junior coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party, leading to a demand for long-term chancellor Konrad Adenauer to leave office in 1963, halfway through his term.

Campaign

The election campaign occurred in the context of the Berlin Crisis and the erection of the Berlin Wall.

For the first time, the SPD announced a Chancellor candidate who was not chairman of the party: Willy Brandt, the Governing Mayor of West Berlin. After the building of the Berlin Wall, he gained more and more sympathy, while chancellor Konrad Adenauer was criticised for not showing enough support for the people of West Berlin. Adenauer had to save the absolute majority of CDU and CSU, but, considering his age and his long term as chancellor, there were big doubts if he should lead the country in a fourth term.

Results

Results by state

Constituency seats

State	Total
seats	Seats won	CDU	SPD	CSU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany}};"	Social Democratic Party of Germany}};"	Christian Social Union in Bavaria}};"	Baden-Württemberg	33	Bavaria	47	Bremen	3	Hamburg	8	Hesse	22	Lower Saxony	34	North Rhine-Westphalia	66	Rhineland-Palatinate	15	Saarland	5	Schleswig-Holstein	14	Total	247	114	91	42
27	6
	5	42
	3
	8
3	19
15	19
41	25
10	5
5
13	1

List seats

State	Total
seats	Seats won	SPD	CDU	FDP	CSU	Social Democratic Party of Germany}};"	Christian Democratic Union of Germany}};"	Free Democratic Party (Germany)}};"	Christian Social Union in Bavaria}};"	Baden-Württemberg	33	Bavaria	39	Bremen	2	Hamburg	10	Hesse	23	Lower Saxony	26	North Rhine-Westphalia	89	Rhineland-Palatinate	16	Saarland	4	Schleswig-Holstein	10	Total	252	99	78	67	8
16	5	12
23		8	8
	1	1
1	6	3
2	14	7
6	11	9
35	35	19
6	6	4
3		1
7		3

Aftermath

The absolute majority was lost by the conservative union due to the gains of the liberal FDP under Erich Mende. From 1961 on, the Union, SPD and FDP established an electoral "triopoly" in the Bundestag that would last until 1983.

Konrad Adenauer remained Chancellor, building a coalition between the CDU/CSU-FDP. In 1962 he had to announce a fifth cabinet: The FDP had temporarily left the coalition after the secretary of defense, Franz Josef Strauß (CSU), had ordered the arrest of five journalists for publishing a memo detailing alleged weaknesses in the German armed forces (known as the Spiegel scandal). In 1963 Adenauer finally retired; Ludwig Erhard took over his position as head of the coalition government.

Notes

References

Barnes, Samuel H.. (1962). "The German Party System and the 1961 Federal Election". American Political Science Review.
[https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/1961.html Bundeswahlleiter]

Info: Wikipedia Source

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federal-elections-in-germany 1961-elections-in-europe 1961-elections-in-germany konrad-adenauer 1961-in-west-germany september-1961-in-europe

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