1962 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

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1962 North Rhine-Westphalia state election
Flag of North Rhine-Westphalia.svg
  1958 8 July 1962 1966  

All 200 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout8,188,988 (73.4% Decrease2.svg 3.2 pp)
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Franz Meyers ex Ludwig Erhard 1965 FdG 1.jpg
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F023752-0007, Heinz Kuhn.jpg
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F060665-0013, Koln, FDP-Parteitag, Hoppe, Weyer.jpg
Candidate Franz Meyers Heinz Kühn Willi Weyer
Party CDU SPD FDP
Last election104 seats, 50.5%81 seats, 39.2%15 seats, 7.1%
Seats won969014
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 8Increase2.svg 9Decrease2.svg 1
Popular vote3,752,1163,497,179553,426
Percentage46.4%43.3%6.8%
SwingDecrease2.svg 4.1 pp Increase2.svg 4.1 pp Decrease2.svg 0.3 pp

1962 North Rhine-Westphalia state election.svg
Results for the single-member constituencies.

Government before election

First Meyers cabinet
CDU

Government after election

Second Meyers cabinet
CDUFDP

The 1962 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 8 July 1962 to elect the 5th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a majority of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Minister-President Franz Meyers.

Contents

The CDU lost its majority with a decline of four percentage points to 46%, but remained the largest party by a small margin. The opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) saw a corresponding gain of four points and won 43%. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) remained steady on 7%. The CDU subsequently formed a coalition with the FDP, and Franz Meyers continued as Minister-President.

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. Overhang seats were not compensated.

Background

In the previous election held on 6 July 1958, the CDU won a landslide victory and took an absolute majority of both votes and seats. The SPD also achieved a swing in its favour, while the FDP and other minors parties suffered losses. The outgoing SPD-led coalition lost its majority and was replaced by a majority government of the CDU led by Franz Meyers.

Parties

NameIdeologyLead
candidate
1958 result
Votes (%)Seats
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands
Christian democracy Franz Meyers 50.5%
104 / 200
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
Social democracy Heinz Kühn 39.2%
81 / 200
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei
Classical liberalism Willi Weyer7.1%
15 / 200

Results

90
14
96
PartyVotes%+/–Seats
Con.ListTotal+/–
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)3,752,11646.42–4.05762096–8
Social Democratic Party (SPD)3,497,17943.27+4.07741690+9
Free Democratic Party (FDP)553,4266.85–0.2701414–1
German Peace Union (DFU)164,3332.03New000New
Centre Party (ZENTRUM)75,2910.93–0.12000±0
All-German Party (GDP)34,5260.43New000New
German Community (DG)4,9170.06+0.06000±0
Independent Workers' Party (UAP)4260.01New000New
Independents 3530.00±0.0000±0
Total8,082,567100.0015050200±0
Valid votes8,082,56798.70
Invalid/blank votes106,4211.30
Total votes8,188,988100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,156,28573.40
Source:

References