1957 German Federal Election
15 September 1957 · The Bonn Republic · 497 seats, 249 for a majority
A federal election was held in West Germany on 15 September 1957 to elect the members of the third Bundestag. The Christian Democratic Union and its longtime ally, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, won a sweeping victory, taking 270 seats in the Bundestag to win the first–and, to date, only–absolute majority for a single German parliamentary group in a free election.
Chancellor before
Konrad Adenauer
CDU
Chancellor (continued)
Konrad Adenauer
CDU
Largest force
CDU/CSU
270 of 497 seats
Turnout
87.8%
The result
CDU/CSU
Konrad Adenauer · 50.2% of votes · +27 seats
270
seats
SPD
Erich Ollenhauer · 31.8% of votes · +18 seats
169
seats
FDP
Reinhold Maier · 7.7% of votes · -7 seats
41
seats
DP
Heinrich Hellwege · 3.4% of votes · +2 seats
17
seats