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Elections to the German Reichstag (1871-1890): A Statistical Overview

The Reichstag (imperial parliament) of the German Reich was elected by universal, equal, direct, and secret male suffrage. For most of the imperial period, 397 deputies sat in the Reichstag, each one representing a single constituency. In 1871, each Reichstag constituency included about 100,000 people. But because the government and the right-wing parties refused to redraw the constituency boundaries to reflect major population shifts, some districts soon had many more voters than the national average and others far fewer. To be elected to the Reichstag a candidate needed an absolute majority. Since more than two candidates usually contested a given constituency, it was often the case that none secured an absolute majority. When this occurred, a second or “run-off” ballot between the two leading vote-recipients was held a week or two after the main election. Over the years, voter turnout increased substantially, as the following table indicates. There was an early peak in turnout in 1887, when 77% of eligible voters trouped to the polls – a remarkable participation rate compared with that of many democracies today. Here, one can measure the main political parties’ gains and losses as they tried to cope with the demands of mobilizing voters in the age of mass politics, though these statistics provide only a starting point. The most important trend is the gradual erosion of support for the two conservative parties, the relatively stable support enjoyed by the Catholic Center Party, and the rise of the Social Democratic Party, which won more votes than any other party from 1890 onwards and which fielded the largest single caucus in the Reichstag after the elections of January 1912.

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Election Results in Overview


 

1st Reichstag 1871 (7)

Persons eligible to vote: 7,656,000
Total votes cast: 3,907,000
Voter turnout: 51.0 %
Persons eligible to vote in % of the population (1):19.4 %

 

 

 

 

 

Number of votes
(millions)

Share of the vote (in %)

Number of seats

Share of seats
(in %)

Conservatives

0.549

14.1

57

14.9

Reich Party (Free Conservatives)

0.346

8.9

37

9.7

National Liberals

1.171

30.1

125

32.7

Liberals

0.281

7.2

30

7.9

Liberal Union (2)

German Progressive Party (3)

0.342

8.8

46

12.0

German People’s Party

0.019

0.5

1

0.3

Center

0.724

18.6

63

16.5

Guelphs

0.052

1.4

6

1.6

Social Democrats

0.124

3.2

2

0.5

Poles

0.176

4.5

13

3.4

Danes (4)

0.025

0.7

1

0.3

Alsace-Lorrainers (5)

Antisemites, Economic Union (6)

Others

0.079

2.0

1

0.3

Total

3.888

 

382

 




 

2nd Reichstag 1874

Persons eligible to vote: 8,523,000
Total votes cast: 5,220,000
Voter turnout: 61.2 %
Persons eligible to vote in % of the population (1): 21.6%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number of votes
(millions)

Share of the vote (in %)

Number of seats

Share of seats
(in %)

Conservatives

0.360

6.9

22

5.5

Reich Party (Free Conservatives)

0.376

7.2

33

8.3

National Liberals

1.543

29.7

155

39.0

Liberals

0.054

1.0

3

0.8

Liberal Union (2)

German Progressive Party (3)

0.448

8.6

49

12.3

German People’s Party

0.022

0.4

1

0.3

Center

1.446

27.9

91

22.9

Guelphs

0.073

1.4

4

1.0

Social Democrats

0.352

6.8

9

2.3

Poles

0.198

3.8

14

3.5

Danes (4)

0.034

0.7

1

0.3

Alsace-Lorrainers (5)

0.235

4.5

15

3.8

Antisemites, Economic Union (6)

Others

0.051

1.0

Total

5.190

 

397

 




 

3rd Reichstag 1877

Persons eligible to vote: 8,943,000
Total votes cast: 5,423,000
Voter turnout: 60.6%
Persons eligible to vote in % of the population (1): 20.9%

 

 

 

 

 

Number of votes (millions)

Share of the vote (in %)

Number of seats

Share of seats
(in %)

Conservatives

0.526

9.7

40

10.1

Reich Party (Free Conservatives)

0.427

7.9

38

9.6

National Liberals

1.470

27.2

128

32.2

Liberals

0.135

2.5

13

3.3

Liberal Union (2)

German Progressive Party (3)

0.418

7.7

35

8.8

German People’s Party

0.045

0.8

4

1.0

Center

1.341

24.8

93

23.4

Guelphs

0.085

1.6

4

1.0

Social Democrats

0.493

9.1

12

3.0

Poles

0.216

4.0

14

3.5

Danes (4)

0.023

0.4

1

0.3

Alsace-Lorrainers (5)

0.200

3.7

15

3.8

Antisemites, Economic Union (6)

Others

0.022

0.4

Total

5.401

 

397

 




 

4th Reichstag 1878

Persons eligible to vote: 9,124,000
Total votes cast: 5,781,000
Voter turnout: 63.4%
Persons eligible to vote in % of the population (1): 21.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number of votes (millions)

Share of the vote (in %)

Number of seats

Share of seats
(in %)

Conservatives

 

 

 

 

Reich Party (Free Conservatives)

0.786

13.6

57

14.4

National Liberals

1.331

23.1

99

24.9

Liberals

0.156

2.7

10

2.5

Liberal Union (2)

German Progressive Party (3)

0.385

6.7

26

6.6

German People’s Party

0.066

1.1

3

0.8

Center

1.328

23.1

94

23.7

Guelphs

0.100

1.7

10

2.5

Social Democrats

0.437

7.6

9

2.3

Poles

0.210

3.6

14

3.5

Danes (4)

0.018

0.3

1

0.3

Alsace-Lorrainers (5)

0.179

3.1

15

3.8

Antisemites, Economic Union (6)

Others

0.015

0.3

Total

5.761

 

397

 




(1) According to the most recent census in each case. The following should be considered: in elections occurring some time after the preceding census (such as the 1890 election, which used the census from 1885 – not the one from 1890 – as a basis), the percentage of persons eligible to vote among the total population appears slightly higher than it actually was. The lower percentage in 1871 can be attributed in part to poorly maintained electoral registers.

(2) From 1893 onward: Freisinnige (instead of “Liberale” – different term, same meaning) Vereinigung; as of 1910: incorporated into the Progressive People’s Party.

(3) From 1884 onward: German Liberal Party; from 1893 onward: Liberal People’s Party; as of 1910: incorporated into the Progressive People’s Party.

(4) The votes cast for both the Particularists and the Protest Party in Schleswig-Holstein were applied to the Danes, provided that no additional data was included in the official statistics.

(5) According to convention, the votes cast for the Center Party in Alsace-Lorraine were applied to the Alsace-Lorrainers until 1878, as were the votes of those Reichstag deputies whose votes were listed as counting towards the Center Party in official statistics from 1874 to 1878, but who were not classified as “belonging to the parliamentary party.”

(6) Antisemites participated in the Reichstag elections from 1887 to 1903 as splinter groups under the names: Christian-Socialist Party, German Reform Party, German-Socialist Reform Party, and German-Socialist Party. As of 1907, this category also includes the Economic Union, into which the Antisemites incorporated themselves as the dominant group.

(7) As yet without the Alsace-Lorrainers. These figures are the corrected ones from vol. 250 of Statistik des Deutschen Reichs [Statistics of the German Reich], 1912. The data was corrected because the figures supplied for the 10th constituency in Frankfurt and the 12th constituency in Breslau in the election statistics of 1871/74 did not reflect the results of the first regular elections but, by mistake, those of the by-elections.

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