Quiet Election

Last week nine million West Germans in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia --which includes the Ruhr--went to the polls to elect a new state legislature. It was the second free election in Germany since the Nazis, and the quietest yet. By evening the voters, mostly miners and steelworkers, representing one-fourth of all voters in West Germany, had smashingly rejected both Communists and extreme right-wing Nationalist parties.

When the votes were counted, the Christian Democrats had won 36.9%, the Social Democrats a strong 32.4%, the right-of-center Free Democrats 12.1%. The Reds kept only twelve out of their 28 seats--representing 5.5% of the total votes. Communist Leader Max Reimann was beaten in his own constituency.

The state's electorate was also voting on a proposed new constitution whose most important articles were 1) the right of parents to send their children to denominational schools; 2) socialization of certain "monopolistic" Ruhr industries. By week's end it seemed probable that the new constitution had been adopted, but the Christian Democrats could be expected to do their best to delay actual nationalization of the plants.

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