West German federal election, 1961

Election for the 4th German Federal Diet^[1]

17 September 1961 (1961-09-17)^[1]

All 521 seats in the Bundestag 261 seats needed for a majority

Turnout	87.7% (voting eligible)^[2]
	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Konrad Adenauer	Willy Brandt	Erich Mende
Party	CDU/CSU	SPD	FDP
Seats before	277	181	44
Seats won	251	203	67
Seat change	26	22	23
Popular vote	14,298,372	11,427,355	4,028,766
Percentage	45.4%	36.2%	12.8%
Swing	4.8%	4.4%	5.1%

Party list election results by state: the lighter blue denotes states where CDU had the plurality of votes; darker blue denotes states where CSU had the absolute majority of the votes; and pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes

Chancellor before election

Konrad Adenauer
CDU/CSU

Elected Chancellor

Konrad Adenauer
CDU/CSU

Election posters

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Federal elections were held in West Germany on 17 September 1961. CDU/CSU remained the largest faction, while the Social Democratic Party narrowly became the largest individual party in the Bundestag, winning 203 of the 521 seats.

Campaign

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

**Summary of the 17 September 1961 German Bundestag election results**
Parties		Constituency					Party list					Total seats
Parties		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Seats^†	+/−	%
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	11,672,057	36.5	+4.5	91	+45	11,427,355	36.2	+4.4	99	−24	203	+22	39.0
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	11,622,995	36.3	−3.4	114	−33	11,283,901	35.8	−3.9	78	+10	201	−21	38.6
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	3,866,269	12.1	+4.6	0	−1	4,028,766	12.8	+5.1	67	+27	67	+23	12.9
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	3,104,742	9.7	−0.9	42	−5	3,014,471	9.6	−0.9	8	±0	50	−5	9.6

	All-German Party (GDP)^‡	859,290	2.7	−5.2	0	−6	870,756	2.8	−5.2	0	−11	0	−17	0
	German Peace Union (DFU)	587,488	1.8	+1.8	0	±0	609,918	1.9	+1.9	0	±0	0	±0	0
	German Reich Party (DRP)	242,649	0.8	−0.2	0	±0	262,977	0.8	−0.2	0	±0	0	±0	0
	South Schleswig Voter Federation (SSW)	24,951	0.1	±0	0	±0	25,449	0.1	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	German Community (DG)	21,083	0.1	±0	0	±0	27,308	0.1	±0	0	±0	0	±0	0
	Electoral Group for a Neutral Germany (WGnD)	778	0.0	+0.0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
	Electoral groups and independents	2,164	0.0	±0	0	±0	–	–	–	–	–	0	±0	0
Invalid/blank votes		845,158	—	—	—	—	1,298,723	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Totals		32,849,624	100	±0.0	247	±0	32,849,624	100	±0.0	252	+2	521	+2	±0
Registered voters/turnout		37,440,715	87.7	—	—	—	37,440,715	87.7	—	—	—	—	—	—
Source: Federal Returning Officer

^† — includes the non-voting delegates for West Berlin (13 SPD, 9 CDU).

^‡ — merger of the German Party and the All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights.

↓
251	67	203
CDU/CSU	FDP	SPD

Popular Vote

CDU/CSU			45.32%
SPD			36.22%
FDP			12.77%
GDP			2.76%
DFU			1.93%
Other			1.00%

Bundestag seats

CDU/CSU			48.50%
SPD			38.08%
FDP			13.43%

Seat results—SPD in red, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black, others (moderate right) in gray

Aftermath

The absolute majority was lost by the conservative union due to the gains of the liberal FDP under Erich Mende.

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 resigned; Ludwig Erhard took over his position as head of the coalition and government.

References

1 2 "Wahl zum 4. Deutschen Bundestag am 17. September 1961" (in German). Bundeswahlleiter. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
↑ "Voter turnout by election year". Website of the Federal Returning Officer's Office. The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved 7 November 2014.

External links

Elections in Germany

Parliamentary elections	1848 1867 (Feb) 1867 (Aug) 1868 1871 1874 1877 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1898 1903 1907 1912 1919 1920 1924 (May) 1924 (Dec) 1928 1930 1932 (July) 1932 (Nov) 1933 (Mar) 1933 (Nov) 1936 1938 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1998 2002 2005 2009 2013 2017

Presidential elections	1925 1932

European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014

Referendums	1926 1928 1929 1933 1934 1936 1938

See also elections in Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thuringia East Germany East Prussia Lower Silesia

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