1912 German federal election
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All 397 seats in the Reichstag 199 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 14,442,387 8.16% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 12,260,731 (84.89%) 0.24pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Map of results (by constituencies) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This article is part of a series on the |
Politics of Germany |
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Federal elections were held in Germany on 12 January 1912.[2] Although the Social Democratic Party (SPD) had received the most votes in every election since 1890, it had never won the most seats, and in the 1907 elections, it had won fewer than half the seats won by the Centre Party despite receiving over a million more votes.[3] However, the 1912 elections saw the SPD retain its position as the most voted-for party and become the largest party in the Reichstag, winning 110 of the 397 seats.[4]
Parties hostile or ambivalent to the ruling elites of the German Empire – the Social Democrats, the Centre Party, and the left-liberal
Some historians, such as
Georges Weill, an SPD candidate who won a seat in Metz, defected to France at the start of World War I.
Electoral system
The members of the Reichstag were elected in single-member constituencies via the two-round system. There was no requirement that constituencies had to be of equal sizes population sizes, meaning that rural constituencies, which tended to have smaller populations, were overrepresented.
Since 1869, suffrage was available to all residents who:
- were male,
- were at least 25 years old,
- were nationals of one of the states,
- were resident in one of the constituencies,
- were not active soldiers,
- were not convicts,
- did not live on poverty relief,
- were not incapacitated.
Since 1888, a constitutional amendment required elections to be held every five years.
Results
Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Social Democratic Party | 4,250,399 | 34.82 | +5.88 | 110 | +67 | |
Centre Party | 1,988,504 | 16.29 | −2.50 | 90 | −11 | |
National Liberal Party | 1,651,115 | 13.53 | −1.27 | 45 | −11 | |
Progressive People's Party | 1,448,097 | 11.86 | +1.20 | 41 | −9 | |
German Conservative Party | 1,006,570 | 8.25 | −1.16 | 41 | −18 | |
German Reich Party | 396,948 | 3.25 | −0.94 | 14 | −10 | |
Independent Polish | 246,275 | 2.02 | −0.11 | 10 | 0 | |
Agrarian League | 165,034 | 1.35 | +0.18 | 5 | −2 | |
Alsace-Lorraine parties | 148,202 | 1.21 | −0.11 | 9 | −2 | |
Christian Social Party | 104,219 | 0.85 | +0.33 | 3 | 0 | |
Polish Catholic Party | 93,629 | 0.77 | +0.33 | 4 | +1 | |
German-Hanoverian Party | 90,168 | 0.74 | −0.08 | 5 | +3 | |
Polish People's Party | 81,140 | 0.66 | −0.13 | 3 | −1 | |
Independent conservatives | 74,323 | 0.61 | +0.18 | 4 | +4 | |
German Social Party | 73,169 | 0.60 | −0.18 | 3 | −5 | |
ELD | 60,886 | 0.50 | New | 1 | New | |
German Reform Party | 60,758 | 0.50 | −0.52 | 3 | −3 | |
Independent liberals | 53,939 | 0.44 | −0.32 | 0 | −3 | |
Bavarian Peasants' League | 48,219 | 0.39 | +0.02 | 2 | +2 | |
Peasants' League | 41,352 | 0.34 | New | 2 | New | |
Democratic Union | 29,444 | 0.24 | New | 0 | New | |
Middle Class parties | 27,095 | 0.22 | −0.44 | 0 | −2 | |
Polish Court Party | 20,700 | 0.17 | −0.18 | 1 | −1 | |
Danish Party | 17,289 | 0.14 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | |
Lorraine Land Party | 7,039 | 0.06 | −0.14 | 0 | 0 | |
Lithuanian Party | 6,227 | 0.05 | +0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
Independent anti-semites | 1,604 | 0.01 | −0.13 | 0 | 0 | |
Other conservatives | 1,081 | 0.01 | −0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
Other agrarians | 4,027 | 0.03 | −0.24 | 0 | −1 | |
Others | 9,492 | 0.08 | +0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
Unknown | 688 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 12,207,632 | 100.00 | – | 397 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 12,207,632 | 99.57 | ||||
Invalid/blank votes | 53,099 | 0.43 | ||||
Total votes | 12,260,731 | 100.00 | ||||
Registered voters/turnout | 14,442,387 | 84.89 | ||||
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland |
Alsace-Lorraine
Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Social Democratic Party | 110,695 | 31.75 | +8.00 | 5 | +3 | |
Alsace-Lorraine Center Party | 96,646 | 27.72 | +0.75 | 7 | 0 | |
ELD | 60,886 | 17.46 | New | 1 | New | |
Independent Lorraine Party | 36,336 | 10.42 | −3.70 | 2 | −1 | |
Alsace-Lorraine protesters | 15,220 | 4.37 | +2.08 | 0 | −1 | |
Centre Party | 13,715 | 3.93 | −8.69 | 0 | −1 | |
German Reich Party | 7,373 | 2.11 | +0.65 | 0 | −1 | |
Lorraine Land Party | 7,039 | 2.02 | −4.47 | 0 | 0 | |
Others | 744 | 0.21 | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 348,654 | 100.00 | – | 15 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 348,654 | 98.36 | ||||
Invalid/blank votes | 5,807 | 1.64 | ||||
Total votes | 354,461 | 100.00 | ||||
Registered voters/turnout | 417,701 | 84.86 | ||||
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland |
References
- ^ Merger of the Free-minded People's Party (6.55%, 29 seats), Free-minded Union (3.01%, 14 seats), and the German People's Party (1.10%, 7 seats).
- ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ^ Nohlen & Stöver, pp. 774–789
- ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p789
- ISBN 0-393-09798-6.