1954 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

The 1954 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 27 June 1954 to elect the 3rd Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Centre Party led by Minister-President Karl Arnold.

1954 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

27 June 1954
All 200 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	7,068,392 (72.6% 0.3pp)
First party Second party   Candidate Karl Arnold Fritz Steinhoff Party CDU SPD Last election 93 seats, 36.9% 68 seats, 32.3% Seats won 90 76 Seat change 3 8 Popular vote 2,855,988 2,387,718 Percentage 41.3% 34.5% Swing 4.4pp 2.2pp   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Friedrich Middelhauve Rudolf Amelunxen Party FDP Centre Last election 26 seats, 12.1% 16 seats, 7.5% Seats won 25 9 Seat change 1 7 Popular vote 793,736 278,863 Percentage 11.5% 4.0% Swing 0.6pp 3.5pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election Second Arnold cabinet CDU–Centre Government after election Third Arnold cabinet CDU–FDP–Centre

The CDU remained the largest party and improved its result to 41.3%, a swing of 4.4 percentage points. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) also improved slightly and finished on 34.5%. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) remained steady on 11.5%, while the Centre Party fell below the 5% electoral threshold and only very narrowly retained its seats due to a quirk of the electoral law. The Communist Party (KPD) declined to 3.8% and lost representation; the League of Expellees (BHE) ran for the first time and fell short of entering the Landtag with 4.5%.

Due to concerns that the Centre could fall below 5% and lose its seats, the CDU stood aside in constituency 62 (Essen Borbeck-Karnap) and endorsed the Centre candidate. Though the SPD won the constituency, the Centre were able to retain their seats thanks to an amendment to the electoral law which entitled parties which won a constituency, or won at least one-third of votes in any constituency, to proportional representation regardless of their statewide vote share. The Centre candidate in constituency 62 won 33.4%, just 26 votes above the quota.

Despite the Centre retaining their seats, the outgoing government lost its majority. The CDU formed a new coalition with the FDP and Centre.

Electoral system

The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation and had a term of four years. 150 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and fifty 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 unless they win at least one constituency. In the 1954 election, parties which won at least one-third of votes in any constituency were also entitled to proportional representation. Overhang seats were not compensated.

Background

In the previous election held on 18 June 1950, the CDU remained the largest party with 37%, followed by the SPD on 32%. The FDP doubled its vote share to 12%, while the Centre declined to 7.5% and the KPD lost most of their support and finished with 5.5%. Alongside the election, the new state constitution was approved by a comfortable margin. The CDU chose not to renew the outgoing grand coalition and, after a brief period of minority government, formed a coalition with the Centre. Minister-President Karl Arnold continued in office.

Parties

Name			Ideology	Lead candidate	1950 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Karl Arnold	36.9%	93 / 215
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Fritz Steinhoff	32.3%	68 / 215
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	Friedrich Middelhauve	12.1%	26 / 215
	ZENTRUM	Centre Party Deutsche Zentrumspartei	Political Catholicism	Rudolf Amelunxen	7.5%	16 / 215
	KPD	Communist Party of Germany Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands	Communism		5.5%	12 / 215

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					Con.	List	Total	+/–
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	2,855,988	41.25	+4.38	85	5	90	–3
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	2,387,718	34.49	+2.15	65	11	76	+8
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	793,736	11.47	–0.61	0	25	25	–1
	League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (BHE)	320,676	4.63	New	0	0	0	New
	Centre Party (ZENTRUM)	278,863	4.03	–3.49	0	9	9	–7
	Communist Party of Germany (KPD)	264,083	3.81	–1.65	0	0	0	–12
	Alliance of Germans (BdD)	19,515	0.28	New	0	0	0	New
	German Party (DP)	1,898	0.03	–1.69	0	0	0	±0
	Independents	592	0.01	–0.10	–	0	0	±0
Total		6,923,069	100.00	–	150	50	200	–15
Valid votes		6,923,069	97.94
Invalid/blank votes		145,323	2.06
Total votes		7,068,392	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,730,072	72.64
Source: [1] [2]

External links

• "Electoral system of North Rhine-Westphalia". Wahlrecht.de (in German). 15 May 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2023.