1958 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

German state election 1958 North Rhine-Westphalia state election North Rhine-Westphalia parliamentary no 1954 North Rhine-Westphalia state election 1954 1962 North Rhine-Westphalia state election 1962 All 200 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 101 6 July 1958 8,046,198 (76.6% 3.9 pp) 150x150px Karl Arnold† Christian Democratic Union of Germany 90 seats, 41.3% 104 14 4,011,419 50.5% 9.2 pp 150x150px Fritz Steinhoff Social Democratic Party of Germany 76 seats, 34.5% 81 5 3,115,738 39.2% 4.7 pp Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F060665-0013, Köln, FDP-Parteitag, Hoppe, Weyer.jpg 325 150 110 10 175 Willi Weyer Free Democratic Party (Germany) 25 seats, 11.5% 15 10 566,258 7.1% 4.4 pp 1958 North Rhine-Westphalia state election.svg 400px Results for the single-member constituencies. Government 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 Leadcandidate 1954 result Votes (%) Seats CDU Christian Democratic Union of GermanyChristlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands Christian democracy Karl Arnold† 41.3% 90 200 Christian Democratic Union of Germany SPD Social Democratic Party of GermanySozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands Social democracy Fritz Steinhoff 34.5% 76 200 Social Democratic Party of Germany FDP Free Democratic PartyFreie Demokratische Partei Classical liberalism Willi Weyer 11.5% 25 200 Free Democratic Party (Germany) ZENTRUM Centre PartyDeutsche Zentrumspartei Political Catholicism Rudolf Amelunxen 4.0% 9 200 #0047AB Results #F8F9FA 350 81 Social Democratic Party of Germany 15 Free Democratic Party (Germany) 104 Christian Democratic Union of Germany Con. List Total +/– Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 4011419 +9.22 92 12 104 +14 Social Democratic Party (SPD) 3115738 +4.71 58 23 81 +5 Free Democratic Party (FDP) 566258 –4.35 0 15 15 –10 German Party (DP) 125696 +1.55 0 0 0 ±0 Centre Party (ZENTRUM) 83720 –2.98 0 0 0 –9 German Reich Party (DRP) 43299 New 0 0 0 New German Social Union (DSU) 540 New 0 0 0 New German Community (DG) 220 New 0 0 0 New Alliance of Germans (BdD) 176 –0.28 0 0 0 ±0 Independents 1112 +0.01 – 0 0 ±0 150 50 200 ±0 98020 10507956 External links https://www.wahlrecht.de/landtage/nordrhein-westfalen.htm Electoral system of North Rhine-Westphalia 11 March 2023 15 May 2022 de Wahlrecht.de References https://www.nytimes.com/1958/07/06/archives/rhine-vote-today-to-test-adenauer-westphalian-state-election-due-to.html https://www.nytimes.com/1958/07/07/archives/adenauer-party-wins-election-in-rhine-state-on-atomic-policy.html Category:Elections in North Rhine-Westphalia Category:1958 elections in Germany Category:1950s in North Rhine-Westphalia Category:July 1958 in Europe Category:1958 in West Germany