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 3.8pp 6.2pp 1.5pp   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 1.7pp 1.4pp 1.5pp
Government before election Fourth Marx cabinet Z–DNVP–DVP–BVP Government after election Second Müller cabinet SPD–DVP–DDP–Z–BVP

The 1928 German federal election was held on 20 May 1928 to elect the fourth Reichstag of the Weimar Republic.

The previous three and a half years had seen Germany governed by a series of conservative cabinets, variably including the radical nationalist German National People's Party (DNVP). The fourth Marx cabinet collapsed in February 1928 due to a dispute over education policy, with new elections called for May. The results were a defeat for the parties of the centre-right cabinet: the DNVP particularly suffered, falling to 14%, as did the conservative German People's Party (DVP) and German Democratic Party (DDP). The Catholic Centre Party saw a substantial decline in its support for the first time since 1920. The winners of the election were the parties of the left: the Social Democratic Party, in opposition since 1923, won 30% of the vote. The Communist Party also improved to 10.6%. Much of the bourgeois and conservative electorate turned to small splinter parties representing special interests, including the Economic Party, Landvolk Party, and Revaluation Party.

With a strong left-wing and the splintered right, there was little alternative to a government led by the SPD. Social Democrat Hermann Müller, who had previously served as Chancellor briefly 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 only as a "cabinet of personalities" rather than a formal coalition, comprising 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 took until ten months later in April 1929 for a coalition agreement to be signed.

This second Müller cabinet was to be the final democratic government of the Weimar Republic. Its fall in March 1930 and marked the end of the parliamentary system and the beginning of the presidential cabinets.

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 intermediary 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 and turnout. The voting age was 25 years.

Results

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

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.