1954 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

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1954 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

← 1950 27 June 1954 1958 →
All 200 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	7,068,392 (72.6% 0.3pp)
First party Second party   Candidate Karl Arnold Fritz Steinhoff Party CDU SPD Last election 93 seats, 36.9% 68 seats, 32.3% Seats won 90 76 Seat change 3 8 Popular vote 2,855,988 2,387,718 Percentage 41.3% 34.5% Swing 4.4pp 2.2pp   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Friedrich Middelhauve Rudolf Amelunxen Party FDP Centre Last election 26 seats, 12.1% 16 seats, 7.5% Seats won 25 9 Seat change 1 7 Popular vote 793,736 278,863 Percentage 11.5% 4.0% Swing 0.6pp 3.5pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election Second Arnold cabinet CDU–Centre Government after election Third Arnold cabinet CDU–FDP–Centre

The 1954 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 27 June 1954 to elect the 3rd Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Centre Party led by Minister-President Karl Arnold.

The CDU remained the largest party and improved its result to 41.3%, a swing of 4.4 percentage points. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) also improved slightly and finished on 34.5%. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) remained steady on 11.5%, while the Centre Party fell below the 5% electoral threshold and only very narrowly retained its seats due to a quirk of the electoral law. The Communist Party (KPD) declined to 3.8% and lost representation; the League of Expellees (BHE) ran for the first time and fell short of entering the Landtag with 4.5%.

Due to concerns that the Centre could fall below 5% and lose its seats, the CDU stood aside in constituency 62 (Essen Borbeck-Karnap) and endorsed the Centre candidate. Though the SPD won the constituency, the Centre were able to retain their seats thanks to an amendment to the electoral law which entitled parties which won a constituency, or won at least one-third of votes in any constituency, to proportional representation regardless of their statewide vote share. The Centre candidate in constituency 62 won 33.4%, just 26 votes above the quota.

Despite the Centre retaining their seats, the outgoing government lost its majority. The CDU formed a new coalition with the FDP and Centre.