1950 Hessian state election

1950 Hessian state election

19 November 1950
All 80 seats in the Landtag of Hesse 41 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	1,936,762 (64.9% 8.3pp)
First party Second party   Candidate Georg-August Zinn August-Martin Euler Party SPD FDP–GB/BHE Last election 38 seats, 42.7% 14 seats, 15.7% Seats won 47 21 Seat change 9 7 Popular vote 821,268 588,739 Percentage 44.4% 31.8% Swing 1.7pp 16.1pp   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Werner Hilpert Party CDU KPD Last election 28 seats, 31.0% 10 seats, 10.7% Seats won 12 0 Seat change 16 10 Popular vote 348,148 87,878 Percentage 18.8% 4.7% Swing 12.1pp 5.9pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election Stock cabinet SPD–CDU Government after election First Zinn cabinet SPD

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

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

Main article: December 1946 Hessian state election

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

The table below lists parties represented in the 1st Landtag of Hesse.

Name			Ideology	Lead candidate	1946 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Georg-August Zinn	42.7%	38 / 90
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Werner Hilpert	31.0%	28 / 90
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	August-Martin Euler	15.7%	14 / 90
	KPD	Communist Party of Germany Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands	Communism		10.7%	10 / 90

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					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	0
	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

• "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.