1928 German federal election

1928 German federal election

20 May 1928 (1928-05-20)
All 491 seats in the Reichstag 246 seats needed for a majority
Registered	41,224,678 ( 5.7%)
Turnout	75.6% ( 3.2pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Hermann Müller Otto Wels Arthur Crispien Kuno von Westarp Wilhelm Marx Party SPD DNVP Centre Last election 26.0%, 131 seats 20.5%, 103 seats 13.6%, 69 seats Seats won 153 73 61 Seat change 22 30 8 Popular vote 9,152,979 4,381,563 3,712,152 Percentage 29.8% 14.3% 12.1% Swing 3.8 pp 6.2 pp 1.5 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ernst Thälmann & Philipp Dengel Gustav Stresemann Erich Koch-Weser Party KPD DVP DDP Last election 8.9%, 45 seats 10.1%, 51 seats 6.3%, 32 seats Seats won 54 45 25 Seat change 9 6 7 Popular vote 3,264,793 2,679,703 1,479,374 Percentage 10.6% 8.7% 4.8% Swing 1.7 pp 1.4 pp 1.5 pp
Government before election Fourth Marx cabinet Z–DNVP–DVP–BVP Government after election Second Müller cabinet SPD–DVP–DDP–Z–BVP

A federal election was held in Germany on 20 May 1928 to elect the fourth Reichstag of the Weimar Republic. 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 of Wilhelm Marx was replaced by a centre-left grand coalition government led by Hermann Müller of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Background

During the almost four years since the previous Reichstag election in December 1924, Germany had been governed by four conservative cabinets, two of which included the radical nationalist German National People's Party (DNVP) and none the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which had the most seats of any party in the Reichstag. The final cabinet of Wilhelm Marx of the Catholic Centre Party collapsed in February 1928 due to a dispute over education policy, and an election was called for May.

Campaign

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 in Kiel that it was ready to take over a governing role again. Along with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), the SPD centred its campaign around opposition to expanding the German Navy. Specifically at issue was funding the construction of the armoured cruiser A, which the SPD, KPD and German Democratic Party (DDP) had argued against during the final days of the Marx 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.

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 a grand coalition. The German People's Party (DVP) relied on the popularity of Foreign Minister Gustav 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 the pan-German publisher Alfred 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.

Electoral system

Further information: Reichstag (Weimar Republic) § Electoral system

The Reichstag was elected via party list proportional representation. For this purpose, the country was divided into 35 multi-member electoral 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.

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.

Results

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 the Reich Party of the German Middle Class (Economic Party) with 23 seats, the Christian National Peasants' and Farmers' Party (Landvolk Party) with 9 seats and the Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation (People's Justice Party) with 2 seats.

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

Aftermath

With a strong left wing and splintered right, there was little alternative to a government led by the SPD. Social Democrat Hermann Müller, who had served briefly as chancellor in 1920, was charged with forming a new cabinet. The only viable majority was a great 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 and Bavarian 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.

The second Müller cabinet was the final democratic government of the Weimar Republic. Its fall in March 1930 marked the end of the parliamentary system and the beginning of the presidential cabinets that preceded the Nazi takeover in 1933.

See also

• Members of the 4th German Reichstag (Weimar Republic)

Works cited

• Childers, Thomas (1983). The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807815705.
• Hamilton, Richard (1982). Who Voted for Hitler?. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691093954.
• Orlow, Dietrich (1969). The History of the Nazi Party: 1919-1933. University of Pittsburgh Press. SBN 822931834.
• Pollock, James (1928). "The German Elections of 1928". American Political Science Review. 22 (3). American Political Science Association: 698–705. doi:10.2307/1945624. JSTOR 1945624.