1950 Hessian state election
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All 80 seats in the Landtag of Hesse 41 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 1,936,762 (64.9% 8.3pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results for the single-member constituencies. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1950 Hessian state election was held on 19 November 1950 to elect the 2nd Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a grand coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Minister-President Christian Stock, who retired at the election. He was succeeded as SPD lead candidate by Georg-August Zinn.
The SPD won a clear majority of seats thanks to quirks of the electoral system, which had been modified since 1946 to a form of mixed-member proportional representation. The Hessian CDU, who took a left-of-centre course in government with the SPD, were heavily defeated and pushed to third place with 19%. An alliance of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and All-German Bloc/League of Expellees (GB/HBE) emerged as the second-largest party with 32%, but were unable to prevent the SPD from achieving its majority. Further, the Communist Party (KPD) slipped just below the 5% electoral threshold and lost their seats. After the election, Minister-President Stock retired and was succeeded by justice minister Georg-August Zinn, who led an SPD majority government.
Electoral system
[edit]The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 48 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and 32 then allocated using compensatory proportional representation. A single ballot was used for both. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes is applied to the Landtag; parties that fall below this threshold are ineligible to receive seats.
Background
[edit]In the previous election held on 1 December 1946, the SPD remained the largest party with 43%, followed by the CDU on 31%, FDP on 16%, and KPD on 11%. The SPD subsequently formed a grand coalition with the CDU.
Parties
[edit]The table below lists parties represented in the 1st Landtag of Hesse.
Name | Ideology | Lead candidate |
1946 result | |||
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Votes (%) | Seats | |||||
SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands |
Social democracy | Georg-August Zinn | 42.7% | 38 / 90
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CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands |
Christian democracy | Werner Hilpert | 31.0% | 28 / 90
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FDP | Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei |
Classical liberalism | August-Martin Euler | 15.7% | 14 / 90
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KPD | Communist Party of Germany Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands |
Communism | 10.7% | 10 / 90
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Results
[edit]Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | |||||
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Con. | List | Total | +– | ||||||
Social Democratic Party | 821,268 | 44.37 | +1.65 | 36 | 11 | 47 | +9 | ||
Free Democratic Party–All-German Bloc/League of Expellees | 588,739 | 31.81 | +16.13 | 8 | 13 | 21 | +7 | ||
Christian Democratic Union | 348,148 | 18.81 | –12.15 | 4 | 8 | 12 | –16 | ||
Communist Party | 87,878 | 4.75 | –5.91 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –10 | ||
National Democratic Party–German Reich Party | 1,989 | 0.11 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
Hessian Farmers' and Peasants' Party | 1,219 | 0.07 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
Bloc of Fatherland Unification | 765 | 0.04 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
Independents | 1,081 | 0.06 | +0.06 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 1,851,087 | 100.00 | – | 48 | 32 | 80 | –10 | ||
Valid votes | 1,851,087 | 95.58 | |||||||
Invalid/blank votes | 85,675 | 4.42 | |||||||
Total votes | 1,936,762 | 100.00 | |||||||
Registered voters/turnout | 2,985,021 | 64.88 |
External links
[edit]- "The Election to the Hessian Landtag, 19 November 1950" (PDF). Parliamentary Data Bank of the Hessian Landtag (in German). March 1951. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- "Absolute majority of the SPD in state elections in Hesse, November 19, 1950". Hessian Regional History Information System (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2023.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Results for the LDP.