Election of the German Federal President in 1949

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Election of the German Federal President in 1949
Candidates Votes in%
Theodor Heuss
  
 51.7
Kurt Schumacher
  
 38.8
Rudolf Amelunxen
  
 3.7
Hans Schlange-Schöningen
  
 0.2
Abstentions
  
 4.6
Theodor Heuss
Kurt Schumacher
Rudolf Amelunxen

On September 12, 1949, the Federal Assembly elected the FDP chairman Theodor Heuss as the first Federal President . This corresponded to a coalition agreement between the CDU / CSU and FDP after the federal election in 1949 , which also provided for the election of Konrad Adenauer as Federal Chancellor (on September 15, 1949).

In view of the 395 of 804 seats held by the governing coalition (CDU / CSU 280, FDP 87, DP 28) in the Federal Assembly, Kurt Schumacher, the chairman of the SPD with only 279 seats, was given little chance from the start, and all the more so not the candidate Rudolf Amelunxen of the Center Party with 21 seats. The KPD had 40 seats. A few votes were cast for people who had not declared any candidacy. A restriction of the election to approved nominations was only introduced by the law on the election of the Federal President by the Federal Assembly of April 25, 1959.

803 votes were cast in the first ballot and 800 in the second ballot. (All figures without the non-voting Berlin members of the Federal Assembly.)

Bonn, September 12, 1949 - total number of votes 804 - absolute majority 403
Ballot candidate Number of votes proportion of Political party
1st ballot Theodor Heuss 377 46.9% FDP
Kurt Schumacher 311 38.7% SPD
Rudolf Amelunxen 28 3.5% center
Hans Schlange-Schöningen 6th 0.7% CDU
Karl Arnold 1 0.1% CDU
Josef Müller 1 0.1% CSU
Alfred Loritz 1 0.1% WAV
Abstentions 76 9.5%
Invalid 2 0.2%
2nd ballot Theodor Heuss 416 51.7% FDP
Kurt Schumacher 312 38.8% SPD
Rudolf Amelunxen 30th 3.7% center
Hans Schlange-Schöningen 2 0.2% CDU
Abstentions 37 4.6%
Invalid 3 0.4%
Theodor Heuss was thus elected Federal President.

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