1957 West German federal election

1957 West German federal election

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All 497 seats in the Bundestag[a] 249 seats needed for a majority
Registered	35,400,923 ( 6.9%)
Turnout	87.8% ( 1.8pp)
First party Second party   Candidate Konrad Adenauer Erich Ollenhauer Party CDU/CSU SPD Last election 45.2%, 243 seats 28.8%, 151 seats Seats won 270[b] 169[c] Seat change 27 18 Popular vote 15,008,399 9,495,571 Percentage 50.2% 31.8% Swing 5.0 pp 3.0 pp   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Reinhold Maier Heinrich Hellwege Party FDP DP Last election 9.5%, 48 seats 3.3%, 15 seats Seats won 41[d] 17 Seat change 7 2 Popular vote 2,307,135 1,007,282 Percentage 7.7% 3.4% Swing 1.8 pp 0.1 pp
The left side shows the winning party vote in the constituencies, the right side shows the seats won by parties in each of the states. The pie chart over West Berlin shows the partisan composition of its legislature.
Government before election Second Adenauer cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP–DP Government after election Third Adenauer cabinet CDU/CSU–DP

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Federal elections were held in West Germany on 15 September 1957 to elect the members of the third Bundestag. The Christian Democratic Union and its longtime ally, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, won a sweeping victory, taking 270 seats in the Bundestag to win the first–and, to date, only–absolute majority for a single German parliamentary group in a free election.^[1]

This was the first West German federal election to take place in the Saarland, which–as Saar protectorate–had been a separate entity under French control between 1946 and 1956.

Only four parties won seats in the 1957 election, which was a consolidation of the party system relative to the 1953 and 1949 elections where six and ten parties won seats respectively.^[1] As the CDU/CSU won a majority of seats, it formed a government without coalition partners.^[1]

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