| Country: | West Germany |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1957 West German federal election |
| Previous Year: | 1957 |
| Next Election: | 1965 West German federal election |
| Next Year: | 1965 |
| Outgoing Members: | List of members of the 3rd Bundestag |
| Elected Members: | List of members of the 4th Bundestag |
| Seats For Election: | All 499 seats in the Bundestag |
| Majority Seats: | 250 |
| Registered: | 37,440,715 (5.8%) |
| Turnout: | 87.7% (0.1pp) |
| Candidate1: | Konrad Adenauer |
| Party1: | CDU/CSU |
| Last Election1: | 50.2%, 270 seats |
| Seats1: | 242 |
| Seat Change1: | 28 |
| Popular Vote1: | 14,298,372 |
| Percentage1: | 45.3% |
| Swing1: | 4.9pp |
| Candidate2: | Willy Brandt |
| Party2: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election2: | 31.8%, 169 seats |
| Seats2: | 190 |
| Seat Change2: | 21 |
| Popular Vote2: | 11,427,355 |
| Percentage2: | 36.2% |
| Swing2: | 4.4pp |
| Candidate3: | Erich Mende |
| Party3: | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Last Election3: | 7.7%, 41 seats |
| Seats3: | 67 |
| Seat Change3: | 26 |
| Popular Vote3: | 4,028,766 |
| Percentage3: | 12.8% |
| Swing3: | 5.1pp |
| Map Size: | 333px |
| Government | |
| Before Election: | Third Adenauer cabinet |
| Before Party: | CDU/CSU |
| Posttitle: | Government after election |
| After Election: | Fourth Adenauer cabinet |
| After Party: | CDU/CSU–FDP |
Federal elections were held in West Germany on 17 September 1961 to elect the members of the fourth Bundestag. The CDU/CSU remained the largest faction, winning 242 of the 499 seats. However, the loss of its majority and the All-German Party losing all its seats led to the CDU having to negotiate a coalition with the long-term junior coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party, leading to a demand for long-term chancellor Konrad Adenauer to leave office in 1963, halfway through his term.
For the first time, the SPD announced a Chancellor candidate who was not chairman of the party: Willy Brandt, the Governing Mayor of West Berlin. After the building of the Berlin Wall, he gained more and more sympathy, while chancellor Konrad Adenauer was criticised for not showing enough support for the people of West Berlin. Adenauer had to save the absolute majority of CDU and CSU, but, considering his age and his long term as chancellor, there were big doubts if he should lead the country in a fourth term.
| State | Total seats | Seats won | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDU | SPD | CSU | |||
| Baden-Württemberg | 33 | 27 | 6 | ||
| Bavaria | 47 | 5 | 42 | ||
| Bremen | 3 | 3 | |||
| Hamburg | 8 | 8 | |||
| Hesse | 22 | 3 | 19 | ||
| Lower Saxony | 34 | 15 | 19 | ||
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 66 | 41 | 25 | ||
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 15 | 10 | 5 | ||
| Saarland | 5 | 5 | |||
| Schleswig-Holstein | 14 | 13 | 1 | ||
| Total | 247 | 114 | 91 | 42 | |
| State | Total seats | Seats won | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPD | CDU | FDP | CSU | |||
| Baden-Württemberg | 33 | 16 | 5 | 12 | ||
| Bavaria | 39 | 23 | 8 | 8 | ||
| Bremen | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Hamburg | 10 | 1 | 6 | 3 | ||
| Hesse | 23 | 2 | 14 | 7 | ||
| Lower Saxony | 26 | 6 | 11 | 9 | ||
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 89 | 35 | 35 | 19 | ||
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 16 | 6 | 6 | 4 | ||
| Saarland | 4 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Schleswig-Holstein | 10 | 7 | 3 | |||
| Total | 252 | 99 | 78 | 67 | 8 | |
The absolute majority was lost by the conservative union due to the gains of the liberal FDP under Erich Mende. From 1961 on, the Union, SPD and FDP established an electoral "triopoly" in the Bundestag that would last until 1983.
Konrad Adenauer remained Chancellor, building a coalition between the CDU/CSU-FDP. In 1962 he had to announce a fifth cabinet: The FDP had temporarily left the coalition after the secretary of defense, Franz Josef Strauß (CSU), had ordered the arrest of five journalists for publishing a memo detailing alleged weaknesses in the German armed forces (known as the Spiegel scandal). In 1963 Adenauer finally retired; Ludwig Erhard took over his position as head of the coalition government.