1950 Bavarian state election

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1950 Bavarian state election
Flag of Bavaria (lozengy).svg
←  1946 26 November 1950 1954  →
All 204 seats in the Landtag of Bavaria
103 seats needed for a majority
Registered6,026,641
Turnout4,813,528 (79.9%)
Increase2.svg 4.2%
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F014934-0005, Alois Hundhammer.jpg Stock.jpg Silver - replace this image male cropped.png
Leader Alois Hundhammer Jean Stock Joseph Baumgartner
Party CSU SPD BP
Seats won646339
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 40Increase2.svg 9Increase2.svg 39
Popular vote2,527,3702,588,5491,657,713
Percentage27.4%28.0%17.9%
SwingDecrease2.svg 24.9%Decrease2.svg 0.6%Increase2.svg 17.9%
 Fourth partyFifth party
  Bundesarchiv Bild 183-23645-0002, Theodor Oberlander.jpg Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F018867-0026, Bonn, Minister aus Sudamerika im Bundestag (Ausschnitt Dehler).jpg
Leader Theodor Oberländer Thomas Dehler
Party BHE–DG FDP
Seats won2612
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 26Increase2.svg 3
Popular vote1,136,148653,741
Percentage12.2%7.1%
SwingIncrease2.svg 12.2%Increase2.svg 1.4%
1950 Bavarian state election.svg
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Minister-President before election

Hans Ehard
CSU

Elected Minister-President

Hans Ehard
CSU

The 1950 Bavarian state election was held on 26 November 1950 to elect the members of the 2nd Landtag of Bavaria. The outgoing government was a majority of the Christian Social Union (CSU) led by Minister-President Hans Ehard.

Contents

The CSU suffered an enormous decline of 25 percentage points, and lost first place in the overall vote to the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) by a slight margin. However, the CSU narrowly retained a plurality of 64 seats to the SPD's 63 thanks to the regional apportionment of seats. Two new parties entered the Landtag: the Bavaria Party (BP) with 18% of the vote and the All-German Bloc (BHE) with 12%. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) also improved to 7%. The CSU subsequently formed a grand coalition with the SPD, and Minister-President Ehard continued in office.

The 1950 election remains the CSU's worst performance in a Bavarian election and the only occasion they did not win a plurality of the vote. [1] [2]

Background

After the 1946 state elections, the CSU had won a majority of seats in the Landtag, and proceeded to form a coalition government with the SPD and right-wing populist WAV under Minister-President Hans Ehard. The coalition, however, was short lived. On 20 June 1947, WAV party chairman and Minister for Denazification Alfred Loritz was ousted by his fellow party-members over a power struggle involving a fellow state delegate, Karl Meissner. Four days later, on 24 June, Loritz was dismissed from his post on charges of blackmail and patronage. He subsequently was arrested on 19 July 1947, before escaping custody, being re-arrested, and eventually found asylum in Switzerland in April 1948. [3] In his place, a CSU attorney, Ludwig Hagenauer was appointed. Only three months after the Loritz episode, all of the SPD ministers within the government resigned, ending the coalition government, which lasted for under a year. The CSU then ruled alone (still as a majority government) for the remaining three years. In the intervening time, Ehard mainly battled with other member of his party to pass the Basic Law. [4] The electoral system was changed since the 1946 election, now every voter has two votes. One for local district candidate (first vote) and one for a constituency candidate (second vote).

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the First Landtag of Bavaria.

NameIdeologyLeader(s)December 1946 result
Votes (%)Seats
CSU Christian Social Union in Bavaria
Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern		 Christian democracy Alois Hundhammer 52.3
104 / 180
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands		 Social democracy Jean Stock 28.6
54 / 180
WAV Economic Reconstruction Union
Wirtschaftliche Aufbau-Vereinigung		 Right-wing populism Alfred Loritz 7.4
13 / 180
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei		 Liberalism Thomas Dehler 5.7
9 / 180

Results

With the WAV now essentially collapsed due to factional disputes, the right-wing vote was scattered over several different parties, the most important being the GB/BHE and the Bavaria Party, which capitalized on nationalism and took votes away from both the WAV and CSU. With the right-wing vote now spread thin, the SPD captured a majority of the first and second votes combined, but were still one seat off of being tied with the CSU's delegation, and neither party being close to a majority. After 17 days of negotiations, a mass coalition between the CSU, SPD, and GB/BHE was declared. On 18 December 1950, Hans Ehard received 131 votes in the Landtag to serve a second term as Minister-President, with 5 votes against, and 36 members abstaining. [5]

PartyVotesList
seats		Total
seats		+/-
Constituency %SeatsList %Total %Swing
Social Democratic Party (SPD)1,334,88828.33381,253,66127.702,588,54928.02Decrease2.svg 0.582563Increase2.svg 9
Christian Social Union (CSU)1,264,99326.85461,262,37727.892,527,37027.36Decrease2.svg 24.931864Increase2.svg 40
Bavaria Party (BP)862,12318.3016795,59017.581,657,71317.94New2339New
German Community Block of Expellees and Dispossessed (BHE–DG)586,06712.440550,08112.151,135,14812.30New2626New
Free Democratic Party (FDP)334,2897.091319,4527.06653,7417.08Increase2.svg 1.431112Increase2.svg 3
Economic Reconstruction Union (WAV)132,1832.810127,5042.82259,6872.81Decrease2.svg 4.5800Decrease2.svg 13
Communist Party of Germany (KPD)91,7501.95086,0181.90177,7681.92Decrease2.svg 4.1500Steady2.svg 0
German Block (DB)40,4540.86041,5840.9282,0380.89New00New
Bavarian Homeland and King's Party (BHKP)29,6410.64041,4480.9271,0890.77New00New
Electoral Bloc of the War-Damaged, Expelled, and Dispossessed (WKHE)19,4990.41032,7400.7252,2390.57New00New
Bloc of Expellees (BdH)10,0740.21010,7030.2420,7770.22New00New
Association of Economically and Politically Disenfranchised (VWPE)5,0850.1104,2540.099,3390.10New00New
Nonpartisan Farmers' Emergency Association – Aid for the Bavarian Forest (UBN)5860.0107960.021,3820.01New00New
Total4,711,632100.001014,526,208100.009,237,840100.00103204Increase2.svg 24
Invalid100,2902.08283,5615.90383,8513.99
Turnout4,811,92279.844,809,76979.819,621,691Increase2.svg 4.11
Registered voters6,026,6416,026,641
Source: Statistik Bayern and Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
Popular Vote
SPD
 
28.02%
CSU
 
27.36%
BP
 
17.94%
GB/BHE
 
12.30%
FDP
 
7.08%
WAV
 
2.81%
KPD
 
1.92%
Other
 
2.57%
Landtag seats
CSU
 
31.37%
SPD
 
30.88%
BP
 
19.12%
GB/BHE
 
12.75%
FDP
 
5.88%

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References

  1. ↑ Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed 30 May 2020
  2. ↑ "Election Results 1946-2018" (PDF).
  3. ↑ Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed 30 May 2020
  4. ↑ Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, accessed 30 May 2020
  5. ↑ Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, accessed 30 May 2020
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