1958 Hessian state election

1958 Hessian state election

← 1954 23 November 1958 1962 →
All 96 seats in the Landtag of Hesse 49 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	2,680,548 (82.3% 0.1pp)
First party Second party   Candidate Georg-August Zinn Wilhelm Fay Party SPD CDU Last election 44 seats, 42.6% 24 seats, 24.1% Seats won 48 32 Seat change 4 8 Popular vote 1,235,361 843,041 Percentage 46.9% 32.0% Swing 4.3pp 7.9pp   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Wolfram Dörinkel Gotthard Franke Party FDP GB/BHE Last election 21 seats, 20.5% 7 seats, 7.7% Seats won 9 7 Seat change 12 0 Popular vote 250,310 193,996 Percentage 9.5% 7.4% Swing 11.0pp 0.3pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election Second Zinn cabinet SPD–GB/BHE Government after election Third Zinn cabinet SPD–GB/BHE

The 1958 Hessian state election was held on 23 November 1958 to elect the 4th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and All-German Bloc/League of Expellees (GB/BHE) led by Minister-President Georg-August Zinn.

The election saw major losses for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) matched by gains for the SPD and Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which established itself as the major opposition to the SPD-led government. The FDP finished on 10%, its worst result since the inaugural postwar elections in 1946. The SPD's coalition partner the GB/BHE remained steady on 7%, and the government was renewed for a second term.

The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 48 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and 48 then allocated using compensatory proportional representation. A single ballot was used for both. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes is applied to the Landtag; parties that fall below this threshold are ineligible to receive seats.

In the previous election held on 28 November 1954, the SPD suffered small losses and fell to 43%, but remained clearly the largest party. The CDU emerged as the second largest party by a small margin as the FDP fell to 20%. The GB/BHE ran independently and won 8%, subsequently forming a coalition with the SPD.

The table below lists parties represented in the 3rd Landtag of Hesse.

• "The Election to the Hessian Landtag, 23 November 1958" (PDF). Parliamentary Data Bank of the Hessian Landtag (in German). February 1959. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
• "State election in Hesse, November 23, 1958". Hessian Regional History Information System (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2023.