1958 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

1958 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

6 July 1958
All 200 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	8,046,198 (76.6% 3.9pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Karl Arnold† Fritz Steinhoff Willi Weyer Party CDU SPD FDP Last election 90 seats, 41.3% 76 seats, 34.5% 25 seats, 11.5% Seats won 104 81 15 Seat change 14 5 10 Popular vote 4,011,419 3,115,738 566,258 Percentage 50.5% 39.2% 7.1% Swing 9.2pp 4.7pp 4.4pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election Steinhoff cabinet SPD–FDP–Centre Government after election First Meyers cabinet CDU

The 1958 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 6 July 1958 to elect the 4th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Centre Party led by Minister-President Fritz Steinhoff.

The result was a landslide victory for the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which won an absolute majority of both votes and seats on a swing of over nine percentage points. Despite its defeat, the SPD also improved its vote share to 39%. The main losses were felt by minor parties: the FDP fell to 7%, while the Centre Party collapsed to 1% and left the Landtag for good. Other parties which had fallen short of entering parliament in 1954, the KPD and BHE, no longer ran.

The CDU's lead candidate was former Minister-President Karl Arnold, who had served from 1947 until being removed by a motion of no confidence partway through the previous term in 1956. His government was replaced by a new SPD-led coalition. Arnold unexpectedly died just before the election on 29 June, leaving the CDU without an official leader. After the election, former interior minister Franz Meyers became Minister-President of the new CDU majority government.

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 27 June 1954, the CDU and SPD both saw swings to 41.3% and 34.5% respectively. The FDP remained steady on 11.5% while the Centre fell to 4% and only narrowly retained its seats thanks to a quirk of the electoral law. The KPD declined to 3.8% and lost representation. The outgoing CDU–Centre government lost its majority, and the CDU expanded the coalition to include the FDP.

In early 1956, the FDP withdrew from government due to efforts by the federal CDU government to introduce parallel voting. Together with the SPD, they passed a constructive motion of no confidence and elected SPD leader Fritz Steinhoff as Minister-President, replacing Karl Arnold. The new government had only a slim majority and thus the Centre was brought into cabinet, with Rudolf Amelunxen appointed justice minister. This coalition governed until the 1958 election.

Parties

Name			Ideology	Lead candidate	1954 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Karl Arnold†	41.3%	90 / 200
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Fritz Steinhoff	34.5%	76 / 200
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	Willi Weyer	11.5%	25 / 200
	ZENTRUM	Centre Party Deutsche Zentrumspartei	Political Catholicism	Rudolf Amelunxen	4.0%	9 / 200

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					Con.	List	Total	+/–
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	4,011,419	50.47	+9.22	92	12	104	+14
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	3,115,738	39.20	+4.71	58	23	81	+5
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	566,258	7.12	–4.35	0	15	15	–10
	German Party (DP)	125,696	1.58	+1.55	0	0	0	±0
	Centre Party (ZENTRUM)	83,720	1.05	–2.98	0	0	0	–9
	German Reich Party (DRP)	43,299	0.54	New	0	0	0	New
	German Social Union (DSU)	540	0.01	New	0	0	0	New
	German Community (DG)	220	0.00	New	0	0	0	New
	Alliance of Germans (BdD)	176	0.00	–0.28	0	0	0	±0
	Independents	1,112	0.01	+0.01	–	0	0	±0
Total		7,948,178	100.00	–	150	50	200	±0
Valid votes		7,948,178	98.78
Invalid/blank votes		98,020	1.22
Total votes		8,046,198	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		10,507,956	76.57
Source: [1] [2]

External links

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