1919 German federal election

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 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]

1919 German federal election
19 January 1919 (1919-01-19)
All 423 seats in the Weimar National Assembly
212 seats needed for a majority
Registered37,375,488 179.9%
Turnout30,538,236 (83.0%) 1.9 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Friedrich Ebert
Philipp Scheidemann		 Adolf Gröber Friedrich von Payer
Party SPD Centre DDP
Leader since 1919 1917 1918
Seats won 165 91 75
Popular vote 11,509,048 5,980,216 5,641,825
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
Leader since 1919 1917 1919
Seats won 44 22 19
Popular vote 3,121,479 2,317,290 1,345,638
Percentage 10.3% 7.6% 4.4%
Electoral results by districts
Hatched: Occupied territory (Alsace-Lorraine, Posen) pending Treaty of Versailles.
Chancellor/Chairman Council of the People's Deputies before election

Friedrich Ebert
SPD

 Resulting head of government

Philipp Scheidemann, Ministerpräsident
SPD

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, and 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]

Results
Party Votes % Seats
Election of 19 January 1919
Social Democratic Party 11,509,048 37.86 163
Centre Party 5,980,216 19.67 91
German Democratic Party 5,641,825 18.56 75
German National People's Party 3,121,479 10.27 44
Independent Social Democratic Party 2,317,290 7.62 22
German People's Party 1,345,638 4.43 19
Bavarian Peasants' League 275,125 0.91 4
German-Hanoverian Party 77,226 0.25 1
Schleswig-Holstein Farmers and Farmworkers Democracy 57,913 0.19 1
Braunschweig State Electoral Association 56,858 0.19 1
Mecklenburg Village League 10,891 0.04 0
German Peace Party 3,503 0.01 0
German Officials', Employees' and Middle Class Party 1,438 0.00 0
Christian Social Party 664 0.00 0
Middle Class Party 640 0.00 0
German Social Aristocracy 279 0.00 0
Democratic Middle Class Party 208 0.00 0
Social Reform Party 45 0.00 0
Invalid/blank votes 124,562 – –
Total 30,524,848 100 421
Registered voters/turnout 37,362,100 83.02 –
Election of 2 February 1919 – representatives of standing troops in the East
Social Democratic Party 7,804 60.04 2
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany 1,945 14.96 0
German Democratic Party 1,681 12.93 0
Non-partisan lists 1,389 10.69 0
German People's Party 74 0.57 0
German National People's Party 62 0.48 0
Centre Party 43 0.33 0
Invalid/blank votes 390 – –
Total 13,388 100 2
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Gonschior.de
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References
  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p747
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, pp746–748
  4. Austria votes today. – German Part of Former Dual Monarchy Chooses Its Constituent Assembly., The New York Times, 16 February 1919 (PDF)
  5. Nohlen & Stöver, p776
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