1950 Bavarian state election

The 1950 Bavarian state election was held on 26 November 1950 to elect the members of the 2nd Landtag of Bavaria. It is notable for featuring the worst performance of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria in any Bavarian state election, at only 27.4% of the vote, and for being the only Bavarian election in which the SPD won a plurality of the combined vote.[1][2]

1950 Bavarian state election

26 November 1950
All 204 seats in the Landtag of Bavaria 103 seats needed for a majority
Registered	6,026,641
Turnout	4,813,528 (79.9%) 4.2%
Leader Alois Hundhammer Jean Stock Joseph Baumgartner Party CSU SPD BP Seats won 64 63 39 Seat change 40 9 39 Popular vote 2,527,370 2,588,549 1,657,713 Percentage 27.4% 28.0% 17.9% Swing 24.9% 0.6% 17.9%   Leader Theodor Oberländer Thomas Dehler Party GB/BHE FDP Seats won 26 12 Seat change 26 3 Popular vote 1,136,148 653,741 Percentage 12.2% 7.1% Swing 12.2% 1.4%
Minister-President before election Hans Ehard CSU Elected Minister-President Hans Ehard CSU

Background

After the 1946 state elections, the CSU had won a majority of seats in the Landtag, and proceeded to form a coalition government with the SPD and right-wing populist WAV under Minister-President Hans Ehard. The coalition, however, was short lived. On 20 June 1947, WAV party chairman and Minister for Denazification Alfred Loritz was ousted by his fellow party-members over a power struggle involving a fellow state delegate, Karl Meissner. Four days later, on 24 June, Loritz was dismissed from his post on charges of blackmail and patronage. He subsequently was arrested on 19 July 1947, before escaping custody, being re-arrested, and eventually found asylum in Switzerland in April 1948.[3] In his place, a CSU attorney, Ludwig Hagenauer was appointed. Only three months after the Loritz episode, all of the SPD ministers within the government resigned, ending the coalition government, which lasted for under a year. The CSU then ruled alone (still as a majority government) for the remaining three years. In the intervening time, Ehard mainly battled with other member of his party to pass the Basic Law.[4] The electoral system was changed since the 1946 election, now every voter has two votes. One for local district candidate (first vote) and one for a constituency candidate (second vote).

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the First Landtag of Bavaria.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	December 1946 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	CSU	Christian Social Union in Bavaria Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern	Christian democracy	Alois Hundhammer	52.3	104 / 180
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Jean Stock	28.6	54 / 180
	WAV	Economic Reconstruction Union Wirtschaftliche Aufbau-Vereinigung	Right-wing populism	Alfred Loritz	7.4	13 / 180
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Liberalism	Thomas Dehler	5.7	9 / 180

Results

With the WAV now essentially collapsed due to factional disputes, the right-wing vote was scattered over several different parties, the most important being the GB/BHE and the Bavaria Party, which capitalized on nationalism and took votes away from both the WAV and CSU. With the right-wing vote now spread thin, the SPD captured a majority of the first and second votes combined, but were still one seat off of being tied with the CSU's delegation, and neither party being close to a majority. After 17 days of negotiations, a mass coalition between the CSU, SPD, and GB/BHE was declared. On 18 December 1950, Hans Ehard received 131 votes in the Landtag to serve a second term as Minister-President, with 5 votes against, and 36 members abstaining.[5]

Summary of the 26 November 1950 election results of the Landtag of Bavaria

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	2,527,370	27.4	24.9	64	40	31.4
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	2,588,549	28.0	0.6	63	9	30.8
	Bavaria Party	1,657,713	17.9	17.9	39	39	19.1
	All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB/BHE)	1,136,148	12.3	12.3	26	26	7.8
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	653,741	7.1	1.4	12	3	5.9
	Economic Reconstruction Union (WAV)	259,687	2.8	4.6	0	13	0
	Communist Party (KPD)	177,768	1.9	4.2	0	±0	0
	Others	240,184	2.6		0	±0	0
Total		9,621,691	100.0		204	+24
Voter turnout			79.9	9.3
Source: Statistik Bayern and Historisches Lexikon Bayerns

Popular Vote SPD   28% CSU   27.4% BP   17.9% GB/BHE   12.2% FDP   7.1% WAV   2.8% KPD   1.9% Other   2.6%

Landtag seats CSU   31.4% SPD   30.8% BP   19.1% GB/BHE   7.8% FDP   5.9%

References

1. Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed 30 May 2020
2. "Election Results 1946-2018" (PDF).
3. Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed 30 May 2020
4. Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, accessed 30 May 2020
5. Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, accessed 30 May 2020

External links

• Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
• House of Bavarian Elections