1912 German federal election
12 January 1912 (1912-01-12)
All 397 seats in the Reichstag
199 seats needed for a majority
Registered14,442,387 Increase 8.16%
Turnout12,260,731 (84.89%) Increase 0.24pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader August Bebel
Hugo Haase		 Georg von Hertling Ernst Bassermann
Party SPD Centre NLP
Leader since 21 November 1892
& 1911		 1909 1898
Last election 28.94%, 43 seats 18.79%, 101 seats 14.80%, 56 seats
Seats won 110 90 45
Seat change Increase 67 Decrease 11 Decrease 11
Popular vote 4,250,400 1,988,504 1,662,700
Percentage 34.82% 16.29% 13.53%
Swing Increase 5.88pp Decrease 2.50pp Decrease 1.27pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Ernst von Heydebrand und
der Lasa		 Otto Fischbeck Ferdynand Radziwiłł
Party DKP FVP Polish Party
Leader since 1911 6 March 1910 1889
Last election 9.41%, 59 seats 10.66%, 50 seats[1] 4.03%, 20 seats
Seats won 41 41 18
Seat change Decrease 18 Decrease 9 Decrease 2
Popular vote 1,006,570 1,448,097 441,744
Percentage 8.25% 11.86% 3.62%
Swing Decrease 1.16pp Increase 1.20pp Decrease 0.41pp
Map of results (by constituencies)
President of the Reichstag before election

Hans Graf von Schwerin-Löwitz
DKP

 President of the Reichstag after election

Johannes Kaempf
FVP

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 Progressives – together won a majority of the seats. This allowed a successful censure vote against the government of Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg over the Saverne Affair in 1913 and the passage of the Reichstag Peace Resolution of 1917. However, the Centre and the Progressives were unwilling to act consistently in opposition, which left the government largely free to do as it wished.

Some historians, such as Fritz Fischer, have theorized that the First World War was partly a result of the strategy of the conservative Prussian Junkers to deal with the result.[5] In an attempt to increase support for conservative parties and policies and to distract the population from the SPD, they hoped to drum up patriotism in an external conflict with Russia or another Eastern European state such as Serbia.

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

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Social Democratic Party4,250,39934.82+5.88110+67
Centre Party1,988,50416.29−2.5090−11
National Liberal Party1,651,11513.53−1.2745−11
Progressive People's Party1,448,09711.86+1.2041−9
German Conservative Party1,006,5708.25−1.1641−18
German Reich Party396,9483.25−0.9414−10
Independent Polish246,2752.02−0.11100
Agrarian League165,0341.35+0.185−2
Alsace-Lorraine parties148,2021.21−0.119−2
Christian Social Party104,2190.85+0.3330
Polish Catholic Party93,6290.77+0.334+1
German-Hanoverian Party90,1680.74−0.085+3
Polish People's Party81,1400.66−0.133−1
Independent conservatives74,3230.61+0.184+4
German Social Party73,1690.60−0.183−5
ELD60,8860.50New1New
German Reform Party60,7580.50−0.523−3
Independent liberals53,9390.44−0.320−3
Bavarian Peasants' League48,2190.39+0.022+2
Peasants' League41,3520.34New2New
Democratic Union29,4440.24New0New
Middle Class parties27,0950.22−0.440−2
Polish Court Party20,7000.17−0.181−1
Danish Party17,2890.140.0010
Lorraine Land Party7,0390.06−0.1400
Lithuanian Party6,2270.05+0.0100
Independent anti-semites1,6040.01−0.1300
Other conservatives1,0810.01−0.0300
Other agrarians4,0270.03−0.240−1
Others9,4920.08+0.0100
Unknown6880.010.0000
Total12,207,632100.00–3970
Valid votes12,207,63299.57
Invalid/blank votes53,0990.43
Total votes12,260,731100.00
Registered voters/turnout14,442,38784.89
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

Alsace-Lorraine

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Social Democratic Party110,69531.75+8.005+3
Alsace-Lorraine Center Party96,64627.72+0.7570
ELD60,88617.46New1New
Independent Lorraine Party36,33610.42−3.702−1
Alsace-Lorraine protesters15,2204.37+2.080−1
Centre Party13,7153.93−8.690−1
German Reich Party7,3732.11+0.650−1
Lorraine Land Party7,0392.02−4.4700
Others7440.2100
Total348,654100.00–150
Valid votes348,65498.36
Invalid/blank votes5,8071.64
Total votes354,461100.00
Registered voters/turnout417,70184.86
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

References

  1. ↑ 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).
  2. ↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  3. ↑ Nohlen & Stöver, pp. 774–789
  4. ↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p789
  5. ↑ Fischer, Fritz (1961). Germany's Aims in the First World War. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-09798-6.
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