1964 West German presidential election explained

Election Name:1964 West German presidential election
Country:Germany
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1959 West German presidential election
Previous Year:1959
Next Election:1969 West German presidential election
Next Year:1969
Election Date:1 July 1964
Nominee1:Heinrich Lübke
Party1:Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
Electoral Vote1:710
Nominee2:Ewald Bucher
Party2:Free Democratic Party (Germany)
Electoral Vote2:123
President
Before Election:Heinrich Lübke
Before Party:Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
After Election:Heinrich Lübke
After Party:Christian Democratic Union (Germany)

An indirect presidential election (officially the 4th Federal Convention) was held in West Germany on 1 July 1964. President Heinrich Lübke was renominated by the Christian Democratic Union. The Free Democratic Party nominated justice minister Ewald Bucher. The Social Democratic Party was divided. The official party line was that they supported President Lübke's re-election. Some have speculated this was a first move towards the grand-coalition that brought Kurt Kiesinger to power two years later. However, the high number of abstentions seems to indicate that not all members of the SPD caucus agreed with this move, as does the fact that Ewald Bucher received at least 19 votes from outside his own party.[1]

Composition of the Federal Convention

The president is elected by the Federal Convention consisting of all the members of the Bundestag and an equal number of delegates representing the states. These are divided proportionally by population to each state, and each state's delegation is divided among the political parties represented in its parliament so as to reflect the partisan proportions in the parliament.

By partyBy state
PartyMembersStateMembers
CDU/CSU485Bundestag521
SPD445Baden-Württemberg73
FDP104Bavaria89
BP3Berlin20
GB/BHE2Bremen6
SVP1Hamburg17
DPS1Hesse45
Independents1Lower Saxony61
Total1042North Rhine-Westphalia147
Rhineland-Palatinate32
Saarland10
Schleswig-Holstein21
Total1042
Source: Eine Dokumentation aus Anlass der Wahl des Bundespräsidenten am 18. März 2012

Results

CandidatePartiesVotes%
Heinrich LübkeCDU/CSU, SPD71068.1
Ewald Bucher12311.8
align=left colspan=2Abstentions18717.9
align=left colspan=2Invalid votes40.4
align=left colspan=2Not present181.7
align=left colspan=2Total1,042100
align=left colspan=4Source: Bundestag

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Man in the News; Tenacious President; Heinrich Lubke . nytimes.com . 18 February 2024.