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1947 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

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1947 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

20 April 1947 1950 →

All 216 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, including 16 overhang seats
109 seats needed for a majority
Turnout5,290,598 (67.3%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Candidate Karl Arnold Fritz Henßler Max Reimann
Party CDU SPD KPD
Seats won 92 64 28
Popular vote 1,889,581 1,607,487 702,410
Percentage 37.6% 32.0% 14.0%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Candidate Rudolf Amelunxen Franz Blücher
Party Centre FDP
Seats won 20 12
Popular vote 491,138 298,995
Percentage 9.8% 6.0%

Results for the single-member constituencies.

Government before election

Second Amelunxen cabinet
CDUSPDKPDCentreFDP

Government after election

First Arnold cabinet
CDUSPDKPDCentre

The 1947 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 20 April 1947 to elect the 1st Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. Prior to the election, the state was governed by a parliament appointed by British occupying authorities comprising 100 members from the Rhineland and 100 from Westphalia, and later four from Lippe. The outgoing government was an all-party coalition headed by Rudolf Amelunxen.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged as the largest party with 37.6% and 92 seats, followed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) with 32.0% and 64 seats. The Communist Party (KPD) placed fourth with 14%, followed by the Centre Party on 10% and Free Democratic Party (FDP) on 6%. The election did not take place in constituency 40 Kleve until 18 May; it was won by the CDU. Overall, the CDU won 16 overhang seats.

After the election, CDU leader Karl Arnold became Minister-President in a coalition of all parties except the FDP.

Electoral system

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The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation and originally had a term of three 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. Only parties and candidates approved by the occupying authorities were able to run, and candidates had to be over 25 years old. All citizens over 21 years, as well as those deprived of citizenship after 1933 for political reasons, were eligible to vote. Those with close association to the Nazi regime were barred from voting or running for election.[1]

Background

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Since the end of the Second World War, the areas comprising the former Prussian provinces of Westphalia and the northern part of the Rhine Province (the districts of Aachen, Cologne, and Düsseldorf) had been occupied by the United Kingdom. In August 1946, these areas were combined to form the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In January 1947, the Free State of Lippe was also annexed to the new state.

A new parliament was appointed by British authorities comprising 100 representatives for the North Rhine and 100 for Westphalia, with an additional four added for Lippe after its annexation. The appointed parliament first met in October 1946. It was made up of members of five political parties: the Social Democratic Party (71 seats), Christian Democratic Union (66), Communist Party (34), Centre Party (18), and Free Democratic Party (9). The number of seats allocated to each party was based on the reckoning of the British authorities, and was revised at the end of November to reflect the results of the first local elections which were won by the CDU. The appointed parliament had very limited power, as governance was mostly regulated by the occupying authorities. It gained the power to pass its own laws at the start of December, but they still required approval from the British military governor, a restriction which remained until May 1949. The law regulating the election of the Landtag was passed in March.

Parties

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Name Ideology Lead
candidate
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands
Christian democracy Karl Arnold
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
Social democracy Fritz Henßler
KPD Communist Party of Germany
Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands
Communism Max Reimann
ZENTRUM Centre Party
Deutsche Zentrumspartei
Political Catholicism Rudolf Amelunxen
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei
Classical liberalism Franz Blücher

Results

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28
64
19
20
92
PartyVotes%Seats
Con.ListTotal
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)1,889,58137.5792092
Social Democratic Party (SPD)1,607,48731.97531164
Communist Party (KPD)702,41013.9732528
Centre Party (ZENTRUM)491,1389.7721820
Free Democratic Party (FDP)298,9955.9501212
German Right Party (DKP–DRP)24,8790.49000
Rhenish People's Party (RVP)13,5470.27000
Independents8550.0200
Total5,028,892100.0015066216
Valid votes5,028,89295.05
Invalid/blank votes261,7064.95
Total votes5,290,598100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,860,60867.31
Source: [1] [2]
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  • "Electoral system of North Rhine-Westphalia". Wahlrecht.de (in German). 15 May 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  • "1947 - the first Landtag election". Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia (in German). Retrieved 5 March 2023.

References

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