Constitutional Assembly (Greater Hesse)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Election to the constitutional state assembly in 1946
December 1946
(in %)
 %
50
40
30th
20th
10
0
44.3
37.3
9.8
8.1
0.6
LDP
Otherwise.
    
A total of 90 seats

The state assembly of Greater Hesse , which advised the constitution , met from July 15 to November 30, 1946 and had the task of drafting a constitution for the state of Greater Hesse. It was to come into force after approval by the American military government and adoption in a referendum . The American military government influenced the drafting of the constitution through a number of general guidelines and in individual cases also on the content and wording of individual constitutional articles.

choice

The basis for the election of the state assembly advising the constitution was drawn up by the Preparatory Constitutional Committee (Greater Hesse), the "Election Law for the Greater Hessian State Assembly advising the constitution," approved by the American military government on May 5, 1946, and by the Greater Hessian on May 16, 1946 State Ministry adopted and announced on June 5, 1946 in the Law and Ordinance Gazette for Greater Hesse . According to this law, the election to the constitutional state assembly took place on June 30, 1946. It was the first nationwide free election after the Second World War . With the election, the mandate of the preparatory constitutional committee (Greater Hesse) and of the advisory state committee, which acted as a kind of pre-parliament, ended .

Of the 90 seats, 64 were awarded from the district nominations based on the votes raised in the administrative districts and 26 based on the state nominations. 6.5% of the possible eligible voters were not eligible to vote for political reasons. The turnout was 71%.

The election was won by the SPD , which, however, missed an absolute majority. Mathematical majorities existed with the CDU , the KPD and the LDP .

fraction Seats
SPD 42
CDU 35
KPD 7th
LDP 6th
total 90

job

The constituent meeting of the state assembly took place on July 15, 1946 in the auditorium of the Oranienstrasse secondary school in Wiesbaden, chaired by the senior president Siegfried Ruhl . The assembly almost unanimously elected Otto Witte ( SPD ) as president and (by acclamation) Cuno Raabe ( CDU ) and Leo Bauer ( KPD ) as vice-presidents.

The basis of the work was a draft constitution drawn up by the constitutional committee of 29 members elected by the state assembly. Contents and conflicts about the constitution are presented in the constitutional article. The state assembly discussed the draft in three readings, the last one on October 20, 1946. On October 29, 1946, the American Deputy Military Governor, General Clay, approved the draft, making changes to four less important points and calling for a referendum on the constitution separate vote on socialization article 41 . The state assembly advising the constitution passed the draft on the same day. On December 1, 1946, the referendum on the constitution of the state of Hesse took place: the voters voted with 76.4% for the entire constitution and with 72% for article 41.

literature

  • Jochen Lengemann : The Hessen Parliament 1946–1986 . Biographical handbook of the advisory state committee, the state assembly advising the constitution and the Hessian state parliament (1st – 11th electoral period). Ed .: President of the Hessian State Parliament. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-458-14330-0 , p. 34–54 ( hessen.de [PDF; 12.4 MB ]).
  • Martin Will: The emergence of the constitution of the state of Hesse from 1946 , Tübingen 2009 ( contributions to the legal history of the 20th century 63), ISBN 978-3-16-149894-7 , p. 267 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. State of Hesse country votes wahlen-in-deutschland.de/
  2. ^ Will, The emergence of the constitution of the State of Hesse from 1946 , 2009, p. 56 ff.
  3. ^ Will, The emergence of the constitution of the state of Hesse from 1946 , 2009, p. 276 ff.