1953 West German federal election

← 1949 6 September 1953 (1953-09-06) 1957 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 487 seats in theBundestag[a] 244 seats needed for a majority
Registered	33,120,940 ( 6.1%)
Turnout	86.0% ( 7.5pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Konrad Adenauer Erich Ollenhauer Franz Blücher Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP Last election 31.0%, 139 seats 29.2%, 131 seats 11.9%, 52 seats Seats won 243[b] 151[c] 48[d] Seat change 104 20 4 Popular vote 12,443,981 7,944,943 2,629,163 Percentage 45.2% 28.8% 9.5% Swing 14.2pp 0.4pp 2.4pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Candidate Waldemar Kraft Heinrich Hellwege Johannes Brockmann Party GB/BHE DP Centre Last election Did not exist 4.0%, 17 seats 3.1%, 10 seats Seats won 27 15 3 Seat change New party 2 7 Popular vote 1,616,953 896,128 217,078 Percentage 5.9% 3.3% 0.8% Swing New party 0.7pp 2.3pp
Results for the single-member constituencies. Results for the list vote by single-member constituency. Constituency results including West Berlin.
Government before election First Adenauer cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP–DP Government after election Second Adenauer cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP–GB/BHE–DP

Federal elections were held inWest Germany on 6 September 1953 to elect the members of the secondBundestag. TheChristian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged as the largest party.

This was the last election beforeSaarland joined West Germany in 1957. It had been a separate entity,Saar protectorate, under French control since 1946.

The CDU/CSU formed a center-right coalition government with the FDP, DP and GB/BHE, leaving the SPD as the main opposition.^[1] In comparison to the 1949 election where ten parties won seats, only six parties won seats in the 1953 election, thus entailing a consolidation of the party system.^[1]

Federal ChancellorKonrad Adenauer (who was also CDU leader) campaigned on his policies ofeconomic reconstruction and growth, moderate conservatism or Christian democracy, and close relations with the United States. During the campaign he attacked theSocial Democratic Party (SPD) ferociously. His staff had a comfortable coach on a train previously used only byHermann Göring and behind that a dining car with sleeping berths for journalists.^[2] The new SPD leader (Kurt Schumacher had died in 1952) wasErich Ollenhauer, who was more moderate in his policies than Schumacher had been. He did not oppose, in principle, the United States' military presence in Western Europe. He later – in 1957 – supported a military alliance of most European countries, including Germany.^[3][4] On 3 September American Secretary of StateJohn Foster Dulles said that "A defeat for Adenauer would have catastrophic consequences for the prospects for German reunification and the restoration of sovereignty" and that it would "trigger off such confusion in Germany that further delays in German efforts for reunification and freedom would be unavoidable."^[2] Adenauer managed to convince clearly more West German voters of his leadership abilities and economic and political success to easily win a second term, although he had to form a coalition government with theFree Democratic Party and the conservativeGerman Party to gain a majority in the Bundestag.

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Elected	West Berlin	Total	+/–
	Christian Democratic Union	10,016,594	36.36	61	9,577,659	34.80	130	191	6	197	+80
	Social Democratic Party	7,944,943	28.84	106	8,131,257	29.55	45	151	11	162	+26
	Free Democratic Party	2,629,163	9.54	34	2,967,566	10.78	14	48	5	53	0
	Christian Social Union	2,427,387	8.81	10	2,450,286	8.90	42	52	0	52	+28
	All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights	1,616,953	5.87	27	1,613,215	5.86	0	27	0	27	New
	German Party	896,128	3.25	5	1,073,031	3.90	10	15	0	15	−2
	Communist Party	607,860	2.21	0	611,317	2.22	0	0	0	0	−15
	Bavaria Party	465,641	1.69	0	399,070	1.45	0	0	0	0	−17
	All-German People's Party	318,475	1.16	0	286,465	1.04	0	0	0	0	New
	Deutsche Reichspartei	295,739	1.07	0	204,725	0.74	0	0	0	0	−5
	Centre Party	217,078	0.79	2	55,835	0.20	1	3	0	3	−7
	Dachverband der Nationalen Sammlung	70,726	0.26	0	78,356	0.28	0	0	0	0	New
	South Schleswig Voters' Association	44,585	0.16	0	44,339	0.16	0	0	0	0	−1
	Schleswig-Holstein Farmers and Farmworkers Democracy				6,269	0.02	0	0	0	0	New
	Patriotic Union [de]				2,531	0.01	0	0	0	0	New
	Party of the Good Germans [de]				654	0.00	0	0	0	0	New
	Independents and voter groups				17,185	0.06	0	0	0	0	−3
Total		27,551,272	100.00	245	27,519,760	100.00	242	487	22	509	+99
Valid votes		27,551,272	96.74		27,519,760	96.63
Invalid/blank votes		928,278	3.26		959,790	3.37
Total votes		28,479,550	100.00		28,479,550	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		33,120,940	85.99		33,120,940	85.99
Source:Bundeswahlleiter

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Konrad Adenauer remainedChancellor, governing in a broad coalition (two-thirds majority) with most of the minor parties except for the SPD and Centre Party.

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