1958 Bavarian state election

The 1958 Bavarian state election was held on 23 November 1954 to elect the members of the Fourth Bavarian Landtag, and was notable for being held in the midst of the Casino Affair, which indited several Bavarian politicians in the previous government on charges of corruption.[1]

1958 Bavarian state election

23 November 1958
All 204 seats in the Landtag of Bavaria 103 seats needed for a majority
Registered	6,254,214
Turnout	4,655,745 (76.6%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Georg Meixner Waldemar von Knoeringen Willi Guthsmuths Party CSU SPD GB/BHE Seats won 101 64 17 Seat change 18 3 2 Popular vote 4,192,904 2,839,300 793,628 Percentage 45.6% 30.9% 8.6% Swing 7.6% 2.7% 1.6%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Jakob Fischbacher Karl Eberhardt Party BP FDP Seats won 14 8 Seat change 14 5 Popular vote 742,424 512,344 Percentage 8.1% 5.6% Swing 5.1% 1.6%
Minister-President before election Hanns Seidel CSU Elected Minister-President Hanns Seidel CSU

Background

The Viererkoalition

While the CSU was still suffering from the major upset of the 1950 state elections, they found themselves recouping their losses in 1954, gaining back 19 seats out of the total 40 lost in 1950, while the SPD struggled to keep upwards momentum. This opened a door to another grand coalition which had been done twice now, or a possible alliance with the declining right-wing parties. However, the SPD pulled a major coup after the election results came in. Under the SPD Landtag chairman Waldemar von Knoeringen, negotiations were brokered with the BP, GB/BHE, and FDP for a Viererkoalition(coalition of four) against the CSU. These were approved and SPD politician Wilhelm Hoegner became Minister-President for a second time, with BP co-founder Joseph Baumgartner as his deputy. This caused internal strife within the CSU, which led to the resignation of Hans Ehard as party chair in January 1955, but he remained in his position as President of Landtag.[2]

Casino Affair

In 1951, businessman Karl Freisehner had approached the government about casino operating concessions in his name. While this was rejected, several Landtag members had received a bribe of 50,000 marks in order to vote yes. With enough pressure, the Bavarian government did give the licences in April 1955. Soon afterwards, the CSU had launched a parliamentary investigation into the opening of the casinos. One of the recipients of the 50,000 mark check was a CSU deputy, Franz Michel, who came forwards to his other party members. Later on he'd claim he burned the check. The crusade against the bribery was now led by Friedrich Zimmermann, who reportedly had incriminating evidence on Joseph Baumgartner. In 1957, Baumgartner and Minister of the Interior August Geislhöringer (also a member of the BP) resigned in face of these allegations.[3]

The Viererkoalition officially collapsed on 8 October 1957 due to a combination of the Casino Affair and the CDU/CSU victory in the 1957 federal election. The right-wing parties abandoned the SPD in reaction to the election, and Hoegner submitted his resignation on 9 October 1957. CSU politician Hanns Seidel was chosen as Minister-President, and formed a coalition with the FDP and GB/BHE, which would last through the 1958 state elections.[2]

Results and Aftermath

The Casino Affair and the 1958 elections were a major coup for the CSU. They had completely regained the seats lost in 1950, and were now only three off from a Landtag majority. They continued the right-wing coalition government under Seidel, while Zimmerman continued his investigations with vigor. In January 1959 Freisehner came forward with documents detailing payments made to Baumgartner and Geislhöringer. Both were sentenced to jail, with Baumgartner receiving two years in prison, and Geislhöringer one and a half. It would later be revealed that the documents Freisehner had presented were most likely forged, however by that point it didn't matter, the BP had managed to destroy its own reputation.[3]

The right-wing populists in Bavaria had gone through several ups-and-downs since the formation of post-war democracy, starting with the rise of the WAV and Alfred Loritz's rise to the state cabinet and subsequent escape to Switzerland in 1947–48.[4] The quick rise of the BP and GB/BHE were no different. In the 1952 local elections the BP won 705 seats and 10.2% of the vote; in 1956 (on the eve of the Casino Affair) they won 519 seats and 7.6% of the vote; and finally in 1960 they won 145 seats and 2.3% of the vote. By 1972 they won only two local seats. In that same 1952-1960 period, the GB/BHE went from 740 seats and 10.1% of the vote to 550 seats and 7.8% of the vote and finally to 464 seats and 6.7% of the vote before disbanding.[5] The Casino Affair solidified the downward trend of these parties and the integration of the more radical elements of Bavarian politics into the mainstream parties of the CSU and FDP.[6]

The CSU continued on a relative path of prosperity, even with the death of Minister-President Seidel, who was replaced by the formerly-disgraced chairman of the state party, Hans Ehard who continued forth with essentially the same cabinet.[1]

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the Third Landtag of Bavaria.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1954 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	CSU	Christian Social Union in Bavaria Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern	Christian democracy	George Mexiner	38	83 / 204
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Waldemar von Knoeringen	28.1	61 / 204
	BP	Bavaria Party Bayernpartei	Bavarian nationalism	Joseph Baumgartner	13.2	28 / 204
	GB/BHE	All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights Gesamtdeutscher Block/Bund der Heimatvertriebenen und Entrechteten	German nationalism	Willi Guthsmuths	10.2	19 / 204
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Liberalism	Otto Bezold	7.2	13 / 204

Summary of the 23 November 1958 election results of the Landtag of Bavaria

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	4,192,904	45.6	7.6	101	18	49.5
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	2,839,300	30.9	2.7	64	3	31.4
	All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB/BHE)	793,628	8.6	1.6	17	2	8.3
	Bavaria Party	742,424	8.1	5.1	14	14	6.9
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	512,344	5.6	1.6	8	5	3.9
	Others	123,220	0.9		0	±0	0
Total		9,203,820	100.0		204
Voter turnout			76.6	5.8
Source: Statistik Bayern and Historisches Lexikon Bayerns

Popular Vote CSU   45.6% SPD   30.9% GB/BHE   8.6% BP   8.1% FDP   5.6% Other   0.9%

Landtag seats CSU   49.5% SPD   31.4% GB/BHE   8.3% BP   6.9% FDP   3.9%

References

1. Bayerische Staatsregierung, accessed 1 June 2020
2. Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, accessed 31 May 2020
3. ""Gehandelt wie die sizilianische Mafia"". DER SPIEGEL (in German). 15 August 1988. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
4. Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed 30 May 2020
5. "Kommunalwahlen Bayern 1946 bis 2008" (PDF).
6. Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed 1 June 2020.

External links

• Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
• House of Bavarian Elections
• Election Results 1946-2018