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All 491 seats in theReichstag 246 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 41,224,678 ( 5.7%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 75.6% ( 3.2pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Germany |
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Head of state |
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A federal election was held in Germany on 20 May 1928 to elect the fourthReichstag of theWeimar Republic.[1][2] It resulted in a significant shift to the left, with gains for the socialists and communists and losses for the nationalists. The centre-right government ofWilhelm Marx was replaced by a centre-leftgrand coalition government led byHermann Müller of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD).
During the almost four years since the previousReichstag election in December 1924, Germany had been governed by four conservative cabinets, two of which included the radical nationalistGerman National People's Party (DNVP) and none theSocial Democratic Party (SPD), which had the most seats of any party in theReichstag. The finalcabinet of Wilhelm Marx of the CatholicCentre Party collapsed in February 1928 due to a dispute over education policy, and an election was called for May.[3]
In social and economic terms, the election took place at the height of the Weimar Republic's economic stabilization. The economy was developing positively and unemployment figures were lower than in previous years.
The SPD, which had not led a government since mid-1920 nor participated in a cabinet since 1923, had made it clear in its 1927 party conference inKiel that it was ready to take over a governing role again.[4] Along with theCommunist Party of Germany (KPD), the SPD centred its campaign around opposition to expanding the German Navy. Specifically at issue was funding the construction of thearmoured cruiser A, which the SPD, KPD andGerman Democratic Party (DDP) had argued against during the final days of theMarx cabinet. Because the majority in the Reichstag had voted to cut subsidies for school children's meals while expressing approval for funding for the ship, first the KPD and then the SPD used the slogan "Food for children instead of armoured cruisers" (Kinderspeisung statt Panzerkreuzer) in their campaigns.[5][6]
The Centre Party saw no possibility of pushing through its denominational school law in a centre-left coalition. The DDP, besides criticizing the naval expansion, advocated agrand coalition. TheGerman People's Party (DVP) relied on the popularity of Foreign MinisterGustav Stresemann in the election campaign. He, too, thought that there was no reasonable alternative to a grand coalition. In the power struggle that had been taking place at the top of the DNVP since 1927, the extreme faction led by thepan-German publisherAlfred Hugenberg had gained more and more influence, and the party sought to win back or retain voters who had been disappointed by its radicalism. The NSDAP had consolidated its position on the extreme right.
The Reichstag was elected viaparty listproportional representation. For this purpose, the country was divided into 35 multi-memberelectoral districts. A party was entitled to a seat for every 60,000 votes won. This was calculated via a three-step process on the constituency level, an intermediate level which combined multiple constituencies, and finally nationwide, where all parties' excess votes were combined. In the third nationwide step, parties could not be awarded more seats than they had already won on the two lower constituency levels. Due to the fixed number of votes per seat, the size of the Reichstag fluctuated between elections based on the number of voters.[7]
The voting age was 20 years. People who were incapacitated according to the Civil Code, who were under guardianship or provisional guardianship, or who had lost their civil rights after a criminal court ruling were not eligible to vote.[8]
The results were a defeat for the parties of the ruling centre-right. The DNVP particularly suffered, falling to 14% of the vote and losing 30 seats. The German Democratic Party and the conservative German People's Party had more modest losses of seven and six seats respectively. The Catholic Centre Party, which lost eight seats, saw a decline in its Reichstag membership for the first time since 1920.
The winners of the election were the parties of the left. The SPD, in opposition since 1923, won 30% of the vote, up 5.5% since the previous election. The Communist Party also improved, to 10.6% from 8.9%. Much of the bourgeois and conservative electorate turned to small parties representing special interests, including theReich Party of the German Middle Class (Economic Party) with 23 seats, theChristian National Peasants' and Farmers' Party (Landvolk Party) with 9 seats and theReich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation (People's Justice Party) with 2 seats.[2]
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
| Social Democratic Party | 9,152,979 | 29.76 | +3.74 | 153 | +22 | |
| German National People's Party | 4,381,563 | 14.25 | −6.24 | 73 | −30 | |
| Centre Party | 3,712,152 | 12.07 | −1.53 | 61 | −8 | |
| Communist Party of Germany | 3,264,793 | 10.62 | +1.68 | 54 | +9 | |
| German People's Party | 2,679,703 | 8.71 | −1.36 | 45 | −6 | |
| German Democratic Party | 1,479,374 | 4.81 | −1.53 | 25 | −7 | |
| Reich Party of the German Middle Class | 1,387,602 | 4.51 | +2.22 | 23 | +11 | |
| Bavarian People's Party | 945,644 | 3.07 | −0.67 | 17 | −2 | |
| Nazi Party | 810,127 | 2.63 | −0.37 | 12 | −2 | |
| Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party | 571,891 | 1.86 | New | 9 | New | |
| Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation | 509,471 | 1.66 | New | 2 | New | |
| German Farmers' Party | 481,254 | 1.56 | New | 8 | New | |
| Völkisch-National Bloc | 266,370 | 0.87 | New | 0 | New | |
| Agricultural League | 199,548 | 0.65 | −1.00 | 3 | −5 | |
| German-Hanoverian Party | 195,555 | 0.64 | −0.22 | 4 | 0 | |
| Saxon Peasants | 127,700 | 0.42 | New | 2 | New | |
| Christian Social Reich Party | 110,704 | 0.36 | New | 0 | New | |
| Left Communists | 80,405 | 0.26 | New | 0 | New | |
| Old Social Democratic Party of Germany | 65,775 | 0.21 | New | 0 | New | |
| Polish People's Party | 64,753 | 0.21 | −0.06 | 0 | 0 | |
| Evangelical Party of Germany | 52,488 | 0.17 | New | 0 | New | |
| German Social Party | 46,047 | 0.15 | −0.38 | 0 | 0 | |
| General People's Party | 37,373 | 0.12 | New | 0 | New | |
| German House and Property Owners' Party | 35,846 | 0.12 | New | 0 | New | |
| Independent Social Democratic Party | 20,815 | 0.07 | −0.26 | 0 | 0 | |
| Evangelical Community Spirit | 10,709 | 0.03 | New | 0 | New | |
| Christian National Middle Class Party | 9,957 | 0.03 | New | 0 | New | |
| Pastor Greber Party | 9,527 | 0.03 | New | 0 | New | |
| Revaluation and Construction Party | 8,562 | 0.03 | New | 0 | New | |
| German Reich Bloc of the Injured | 7,437 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New | |
| Reich Party for Crafts, Trade and Business | 6,614 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New | |
| People's Welfare Party | 6,071 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New | |
| Franconian Peasants | 3,417 | 0.01 | New | 0 | New | |
| Wendish People's Party | 3,111 | 0.01 | −0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
| Party for Justice and Tenant Protection | 2,831 | 0.01 | New | 0 | New | |
| Schleswig Club | 2,435 | 0.01 | −0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
| German Christian Folk Party | 901 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Vital Interests of the Unmarried | 873 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Masurian People's Party | 295 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Lithuanian People's Party | 289 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Friesland | 286 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Total | 30,753,247 | 100.00 | – | 491 | –2 | |
| Valid votes | 30,753,247 | 98.68 | ||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 412,542 | 1.32 | ||||
| Total votes | 31,165,789 | 100.00 | ||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 41,224,678 | 75.60 | ||||
| Source:Gonschior.de | ||||||
With a strong left wing and splintered right, there was little alternative to a government led by the SPD. Social DemocratHermann Müller, who had served briefly as chancellor in 1920, was charged with forming a new cabinet. The only viable majority was agreat coalition stretching from the SPD to the DVP. Negotiations proved difficult: it took two weeks for the cabinet to be formed and sworn in, and then only as a "cabinet of personalities" rather than a formal coalition. It included ministers from the SPD, DVP, DDP andBavarian People's Party (BVP). The Centre sent only one minister,Theodor von Guérard, as a so-called "observer". It was not until ten months later, in April 1929, that a coalition agreement could be signed and the Centre Party officially enter the cabinet.[2]
Thesecond Müller cabinet was the final democratic government of the Weimar Republic. Its fall in March 1930 marked the end of theparliamentary system and the beginning of thepresidential cabinets that preceded theNazi takeover in 1933.[2]
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