1962 Hessian state election

The 1962 Hessian state election was held on 11 November 1962 to elect the 5th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and All-German Party (GDP) led by Minister-President Georg-August Zinn.

1962 Hessian state election
11 November 1962
All 96 seats in the Landtag of Hesse
49 seats needed for a majority
Turnout2,681,995 (77.7% Decrease 4.6pp)
  First party Second party
 
Georg-August Zinn.jpg
CDU Landesvorsitzender Wilhelm Fay bei einer Rede während des Bundestagswahlkampf.jpg
Candidate Georg-August Zinn Wilhelm Fay
Party SPD CDU
Last election 48 seats, 46.9% 32 seats, 32.0%
Seats won 51 28
Seat change Increase 3 Decrease 4
Popular vote 1,340,625 760,435
Percentage 50.8% 28.8%
Swing Increase 3.9pp Decrease 3.2pp
  Third party Fourth party
 
Candidate Heinrich Kohl Gustav Hacker
Party FDP GDP
Last election 9 seats, 9.5% 7 seats, 10.9%[lower-alpha 1]
Seats won 11 6
Seat change Increase 2 Decrease 1
Popular vote 301,783 167,090
Percentage 11.4% 6.3%
Swing Increase 1.9pp Decrease 4.6pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election

Third Zinn cabinet
SPD–GDP

 Government after election

Fourth Zinn cabinet
SPD–GDP

The result was a landslide for the SPD, which won an absolute majority of both votes and seats for the first time. The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) slid to 29%, while the Free Democratic Party (FDP) recorded small gains. The SPD's coalition partner the GDP, formed by a merger of the GB/BHE and DP the previous year, retained six seats but failed to capture as many votes as the two partners had separately in 1958. Despite its majority, the SPD maintained its coalition with the GDP and continued in office.

Electoral system

The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 48 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and 48 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.

Background
Main article: 1958 Hessian state election

In the previous election held on 23 November 1958, the SPD retained a clear first place with 44% of the vote despite a substantial swing to the CDU resulting from the collapse of the FDP vote, which fell to 10%. The SPD's coalition partner the GB/BHE remained steady on 7% and the government continued in office.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 4th Landtag of Hesse.

Name Ideology Lead
candidate		 1958 result
Votes (%) Seats
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands		 Social democracy Georg-August Zinn 46.9%
48 / 96
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands		 Christian democracy Wilhelm Fay 32.0%
32 / 96
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei		 Classical liberalism Heinrich Kohl 9.5%
11 / 96
GDP All-German Party
Gesamtdeutsche Partei		 National conservatism Gustav Hacker 10.9%
7 / 96

Results
PartyVotes%+/–Seats
Con.ListTotal+–
Social Democratic Party1,340,62550.28+3.9444751+3
Christian Democratic Union760,43528.52–3.1742428–4
Free Democratic Party301,78311.32+1.9401111+2
All-German Party167,0906.27–4.57066–1
German Peace Union94,9563.56New000New
German Community1,4330.05+0.010000
Total2,666,322100.00–4848960
Valid votes2,666,32298.33
Invalid/blank votes45,1921.67
Total votes2,711,514100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,451,31478.56
  • "Final Results for the Landtag election of 11 November 1962" (PDF). Parliamentary Data Bank of the Hessian Landtag (in German). 22 November 1962. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  • "Elections to the Hessian state parliament, November 11, 1962". Hessian Regional History Information System (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2023.

Notes
  1. Aggregate of GB/BHE (7.4%) and DP (3.5%).
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