West German presidential election, 1949

On September 12, 1949, the Federal Assembly elected the FDP chairman Theodor Heuss for the first Federal President. This corresponded to a coalition agreement between the CDU / CSU and FDP, which also provided for the election of Konrad Adenauer as chancellor ( 15 September 1949).

Given the 395 of 804 seats, which the government coalition (CDU / CSU 280, FDP 87, DP 28) possessed in the Federal Assembly, Kurt Schumacher, the chairman of the SPD with its only 279 seats have been granted from the outset hardly any chances, let alone not the candidate Rudolf Amelunxen the Centre Party with 21 seats. The KPD brought it to 40 seats. A few votes were cast for persons who had no declared candidacy. A restriction on the choice of approved nominations was only introduced by the Law on the Election of the Federal President of the Federal Assembly on 25 April 1959.

In the first round were 803, issued 800 votes in the second ballot. ( All figures exclude impact of non-voting members of the Federal Assembly in Berlin. )