1919 German federal election

19 January 1919 (1919-01-19)
All 423 seats in the Weimar National Assembly 212 seats needed for a majority
Registered	36,779,888 ( 154.7%)
Turnout	83.0% ( 1.9pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Friedrich Ebert & Philipp Scheidemann Adolf Gröber Friedrich von Payer Party SPD CVP DDP Seats won 165 91 75 Popular vote 11,516,852 5,980,259 5,643,506 Percentage 37.9% 19.7% 18.6%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner Hugo Haase Rudolf Heinze Party DNVP USPD DVP Seats won 44 22 19 Popular vote 3,121,541 2,319,235 1,345,712 Percentage 10.3% 7.6% 4.4%
Hatched: Occupied territory (Alsace-Lorraine, Posen) pending Treaty of Versailles Results by constituency Results by administrative district (kreis)
Government before election Council of the People's Deputies SPD–USPD Government after election Scheidemann cabinet SPD–DDP–Z

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of Germany
Constitution (Basic Law) Federal Constitutional Court Human rights
Head of State President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD)
Executive Chancellor of Germany (list) Olaf Scholz (SPD) Vice Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck (Grüne) Cabinet Scholz Federal agencies
Legislature Bundestag constituencies members Bundesrat Vermittlungsausschuss Gemeinsamer Ausschuss
Judiciary Federal Constitutional Court Federal courts Ordinary Administrative Fiscal Labour Social Joint Senate Other courts
Subdivisions State (Land) Minister president State Parliament (Landtag) composition Regierungsbezirk District (Kreis) list Collective municipality (Amt) Municipality (Gemeinde) list
Elections Electoral system Political parties Referendums Coalitions Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung) Presidential elections Weimar Republic (1919–1933) 1919 1925 1932 East Germany (1949–1960) 1949 1953 1957 Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949) 1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2010 2012 2017 2022 Parliamentary election 1867 (Feb) 1867 (Aug) 1868 1871 1874 1877 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1898 1903 1907 1912 1919 1920 1924 (May) 1924 (Dec) 1928 1930 1932 (July) 1932 (Nov) 1933 (Mar) 1933 (Nov) 1936 1938 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1998 2002 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 Next European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
State and local politics State Politics Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thuringia
Foreign relations Foreign relations by country France Italy UK USA China Russia International Relations Politics of the European Union Visa Passport
Political ideologies Political culture Communism Conservatism (Agrarian Conservatism) Far-right Liberalism Social Democracy
Germany portal  Politics portal Other countries

Federal elections were held in Germany on 19 January 1919,^[1] although members of the standing army in the east did not vote until 2 February. The elections were the first of the new Weimar Republic, which had been established after World War I and the Revolution of 1918–19, and the first with women's suffrage. The previous constituencies, which heavily overrepresented rural areas, were scrapped, and the elections held using a form of proportional representation.^[2] The voting age was also lowered from 25 to 20.^[3] Austrian citizens living in Germany were allowed to vote, with German citizens living in Austria being allowed to vote in the February 1919 Constitutional Assembly elections.^[4]

From its inaugural session on 6 February, the National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) functioned as both a constituent assembly and unicameral legislature. The supporting parties of the "Weimar Coalition" (SPD, Zentrum and DDP) together won 76.2% of the votes cast; on 13 February, provisional president Friedrich Ebert appointed Philipp Scheidemann, of the SPD, as Minister-President. The office was later renamed Chancellor when the Weimar Constitution came into force in August 1919. The Scheidemann cabinet replaced the revolutionary Rat der Volksbeauftragten (Council of the People's Deputies). Voter turnout was 83.0%.^[5]

Electoral system

The 423 seats of the National Constituent Assembly were set to be elected in 38 multi-member constituencies of between six and 17 seats using party-list proportional representation. Two seats were reserved for representatives of standing troops in the east of the country. Apparentment was also in effect, allowing parties to form coalitions in constituencies, using one common list (although a party could only win seats if it put forward candidates in those constituencies). The voting age was set at 20.

Campaign

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) supported Germany's involvement in World War I. Anti-war members of the party formed the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD). The Council of the People's Deputies was initially made up of members of both parties, but the USPD left following the usage of the Freikorps to suppress the Spartacist uprising.^[6]

The Communist Party boycotted the election.^[7]

Results

The SPD saw their share of the vote increased compared to the previous election despite the prescence of the USPD. The SPD formed a coalition with the Catholic Centre Party and German Democratic Party.^[8]

One constituency established by the Electoral Regulations, Elsass–Lothringen, was unable to hold its elections due to having been annexed by France in the aftermath of World War I, and in another, Posen, amidst the Greater Poland uprising, Poles boycotted the vote.

References

Works cited

• Childers, Thomas (1983). The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807815705.