Election of the German Federal President in 1959
Election of the German Federal President in 1959 - second ballot | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Candidates | Votes in% | |||
Heinrich Luebke | 50.7 | |||
Carlo Schmid | 37.2 | |||
Max Becker | 9.5 | |||
Abstentions | 2.1 | |||
On July 1, 1959, the 3rd Federal Assembly elected the previous Minister of Food, Heinrich Lübke, as the second Federal President. Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer initially wanted to run himself and informed the public about it in a radio address on April 8, 1959. “The position, the task and the work of the Federal President”, he explained, “is underestimated by the German public and thus also internationally. It is much bigger than you would think. ”Adenauer soon realized, however, that he was alone with this assessment and that he would not be able to prevent Ludwig Erhard as his successor in the Chancellery, whom he considered unsuitable. That is why he ultimately renounced the candidacy and justified this in a radio address on June 5, 1959, saying that "the foreign policy situation had meanwhile worsened". "With this development, I do not believe that I am responsible for leaving my current position as Federal Chancellor."
After long discussions, the CDU / CSU, which had 517 seats in the Federal Assembly, decided in favor of Lübke, who accordingly won 517 votes in the first ballot. In the second ballot he was able to prevail with 526 votes against Carlo Schmid, for whom, with 386 votes, as many were cast as the SPD had seats in the Federal Assembly. The candidate Max Becker of the FDP, which had 82 seats, was apparently also able to win a few of the 59 members of the smaller parties with 102 and 99 votes in the first and second ballots.
Ballot | candidate | Number of votes | proportion of | Political party |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st ballot | Heinrich Luebke | 517 | 49.8% | CDU |
Carlo Schmid | 385 | 37.1% | SPD | |
Max Becker | 104 | 10.0% | FDP | |
Abstentions | 25th | 2.4% | ||
not matched | 7th | 0.7% | ||
2nd ballot | Heinrich Luebke | 526 | 50.7% | CDU |
Carlo Schmid | 386 | 37.2% | SPD | |
Max Becker | 99 | 9.5% | FDP | |
Abstentions | 22nd | 2.1% | ||
not submitted | 5 | 0.5% | ||
Heinrich Lübke was thus elected Federal President. |