The German elections

Elections in Germany

The following information deals with elections in Germany, including elections to the Bundestag , the Landtags of the various states, and local elections.-Election system:...

of January 19, 1919 were the first of the new Weimar Republic

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...

 following World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and the Revolution of 1918–19. It was also the first German election according to the system of proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 and women's suffrage

Women's suffrage

Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...

. It is also reckoned as the first truly free and fair all-German election, as it was the first to be held after the scrapping of the old constituencies that grossly overrepresented rural areas. The voting age

Voting age

A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain to be eligible to vote in a public election.The vast majority of countries in the world have established a voting age. Most governments consider that those of any age lower than the chosen threshold lack the necessary...

 was lowered to 20 (compared to 25 in the election of 1912).

From the subsequent first session on February 6, the National Assembly

Weimar National Assembly

The Weimar National Assembly governed Germany from February 6, 1919 to June 6, 1920 and drew up the new constitution which governed Germany from 1919 to 1933, technically remaining in effect even until the end of Nazi rule in 1945...

 (Nationalversammlung) functioned as both a constituent assembly

Constituent assembly

A constituent assembly is a body composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution...

 and unicameral legislature. On February 13, President Friedrich Ebert

Friedrich Ebert

Friedrich Ebert was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .When Ebert was elected as the leader of the SPD after the death of August Bebel, the party members of the SPD were deeply divided because of the party's support for World War I. Ebert supported the Burgfrieden and...

 appointed Philipp Scheidemann

Philipp Scheidemann

Philipp Scheidemann was a German Social Democratic politician, who proclaimed the Republic on 9 November 1918, and who became the second Chancellor of the Weimar Republic....

 Reich Minister-president (the office was renamed Chancellor

Chancellor of Germany

The Chancellor of Germany is, under the German 1949 constitution, the head of government of Germany...

 upon the promulgation of the Weimar Constitution

Weimar constitution

The Constitution of the German Reich , usually known as the Weimar Constitution was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic...

 in August), his government replaced the revolutionary Council of the People's Deputies

Council of the People's Deputies

The Council of the People's Deputies was the name given to the government of the November Revolution in Germany from November 1918 until February 1919....

. The supporting parties of the Weimar Coalition

Weimar Coalition

The Weimar Coalition is the name given to the coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , the German Democratic Party , and the Catholic Centre Party, who together had a large majority of the delegates to the Constituent Assembly that met at Weimar in 1919, and were the principal groups...

 (SPD

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

, Centre

Centre Party (Germany)

The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...

, DDP) together had gained 76.2 % of the votes cast.

Results

The voter turnout

Voter turnout

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 83.2 % (1912: 84.9 %) with 30,524,848 votes cast in total (1912: about 12.208 mil.).

Party	Vote percentage	Seats
Social Democratic Party of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...  (SPD)	37.9%	163†
Centre Party Centre Party (Germany) The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...  (Z)	19.7%	91
German Democratic Party (DDP)	18.6%	75
German National People's Party German National People's Party The German National People's Party was a national conservative party in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the NSDAP it was the main nationalist party in Weimar Germany composed of nationalists, reactionary monarchists, völkisch, and antisemitic elements, and...  (DNVP)	10.3%	44
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany was a short-lived political party in Germany during the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany...  (USPD)	7.6%	22
German People's Party German People's Party The German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:...  (DVP)	4.4%	19
Bavarian Peasants' League Bavarian Peasants' League The Bavarian Peasants' League was an agrarian political party in Bavaria, Germany, from 1870-1933. It has also been known in English as the Bavarian Farmers' League....  (BB)	0.9%	4
German-Hanoverian Party (DHP)	0.3%	1
Schleswig-Holsteinische Bauern- und Landarbeiterdemokratie Schleswig-Holsteinische Bauern- und Landarbeiterdemokratie Schleswig-Holsteinische Bauern- und Landarbeiterdemokratie was a regional agrarian political party based in Schleswig-Holstein during the Weimar Republic... (SHBLD)	0.2%	1
Brunswick Election-Union (BLWV)	0.2%	1
Total	100%	421†

†Two additional SPD members were elected by the Eastern Army on February 2, 1919, bringing the total to 423 and the strength of the SPD to 165.