1932 German presidential election applies to jurisdiction Weimar Republic
Presidential elections were held in Germany on 13 March, with a runoff on 10 April. Independent incumbent Paul von Hindenburg won a second seven-year term against Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). Communist Party (KPD) leader Ernst Thälmann also ran and received more than ten percent of the vote in the runoff. Theodor Duesterberg, the deputy leader of the World War I veterans' organization Der Stahlhelm, ran in the first round but dropped out of the runoff. This was the second and final direct election to the office of President of the Reich (Reichspräsident), Germany's head of state under the Weimar Republic.
Under the Weimar Republic, which had arisen from Germany's defeat in World War I, the presidency was a powerful office. Although the Weimar Constitution had provided for a semi-presidential republic, structural weaknesses and political polarization had resulted in a paralyzed Reichstag and this combined with the Great Depression resulted in a government that had governed exclusively via presidential decrees since March 1930, giving the President much power. Hindenburg had been elected to the office in 1925 with the support of a coalition of several parties on the right who hoped that he would overturn the Weimar Republic, which was never particularly popular.
The NSDAP, whose members were known as "Nazis", had risen from being a fringe group to the second-largest party in the Reichstag. Led by Hitler, who exercised sole control over its policy and direction, its ideology combined extreme hostility towards the Weimar Republic with fervent antisemitism and German nationalism. The threat of Hitler caused many on the left to support Hindenburg; at the same time, Hindenburg's failure to overturn the Weimar Republic had disappointed many of those who had supported him in 1925. The combined effect of these two influences resulted in a reversal of those who supported Hindenburg between the two elections. Some on the left were still lukewarm towards Hindenburg; the Communists exploited this by running Thälmann and promoting him as "the only left candidate". Hindenburg failed to receive the requisite majority of votes in the first round, but was able to win reelection in the runoff.
Hindenburg's reelection failed to prevent the NSDAP from assuming power. Two successive federal elections later that year left it as the largest party in the Reichstag and anti-republic parties in the majority. Under this political climate, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Upon Hindenburg's death in 1934 Hitler de facto assumed the presidency, which he combined with the chancellorship to become the Führer und Reichskanzler. This would be the last presidential election in what would become West Germany and East Germany until 1949. It remains, until today, the last direct election of the German President. Hindenburg remained the only independent politician elected president of Germany until the election of Joachim Gauck nearly 80 years later.Results
In the first round on March 13 no candidate obtained an absolute majority of the votes cast, though Hindenburg with 49.6% failed only by a narrow margin. He scored higher election results in traditional Social Democratic and Centre strongholds such as the Prussian Rhine Province or Saxony. Hitler's results were a great disappointment to him, nevertheless the NSDAP recorded further gains compared with the 1930 Reichstag election. Hindenburg's failure to win reelection in the first round shocked and disappointed his supporters.Hitler outperformed Hindenburg in several of his 1925 strongholds, getting up to an estimated 50 percent of the vote of 1925 Hindenburg voters in the first round. Taking Duesterberg's votes into account it has been estimated that Hindenburg retained fewer than a third of those who had voted for him in 1925, fewer than 30 percent excluding Bavaria, where the Bavarian People's Party (BVP) had endorsed him in both elections. The expectations of the Communists presenting "the only left candidate" were not fulfilled, nevertheless they continued their fight against the policies of the Social Democrats and nominated Thälmann for the second round on 10 April.
In reporting the outcome The Des Moines Register warned that "If Hitler wins in April the future of the nation and even of Europe to a great extent is uncertain ... [the Nazis'] extremist policies might easily lead to the gravest international complications." The New York Daily News described Hindenburg as "the grandest character of modern Germany" and said that he had completely defeated the communists and the Stahlhelm, predicting an easy reelection. It was hesitant on the matter of Hindenburg's succession, positing that Hitler would inherit Hindenburg's supporters unless the question of reparations was settled. The Chicago Tribune recorded great disappointment in Paris at the results combined with a confidence that Hindenburg would win in the runoff, and described the Nazi platform as "largely negative[,] ... anti-Republican, anti-parliament, anti-Young Plan, anti-Locarno, anti-league of nations, anti-semitic, and anti-capitalist."
The narrowness of Hindenburg's failure to obtain reelection in the first round made his reelection almost guaranteed in the runoff. Nobody, especially Hindenburg's supporters, desired a runoff given that elections in several states would be held just two weeks later. Still, a runoff provided another chance for Hindenburg's conservative supporters to promote him, especially as Duesterberg was likely to drop out. A meeting of Stahlhelm's executives on 19-20 March concluded that Duesterberg would not run in the runoff and that the alliance with the DNVP would be rescinded; many of Hindenburg's conservative supporters hoped that Duesterberg voters would mostly swing toward Hindenburg in the runoff. These hopes were increased by the fact that Hugenberg refused to endorse Hitler in the runoff, still sore over the latter's decision to run on his own.
Hindenburg, Hitler, and Thälmann competed in the second round, after Duesterberg had dropped out. As in 1925, the Communist Party nominated Ernst Thälmann. Backed by the Communist International, it was hoped that he would gain support from left-wing Social Democrats disgusted by Hindenburg's character. Indeed, leftist splinter parties such as the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany and the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund organization declared their support, as did intellectuals like Carl von Ossietzky. Hindenburg's conservative supporters had not made any personal attacks against Hitler in the first round, although they criticized the NSDAP and its ideology. In the runoff they portrayed Hitler as a party man whose anti-republican rhetoric disguised the NSDAP's adherence to the system. They also portrayed Hitler and the Nazis as socialists whose rhetoric against Marxism was a disguise towards their own dislike of private property and free enterprise. They contrasted Hindenburg's Christian character with Hitler's apathy towards organized religion. The NSDAP responded to these accusations by noting the reversal of Hindenburg's supporters between the elections, accusing Hindenburg of betraying his 1925 supporters and allying with the Catholics, Marxists, and Jews who had opposed him then and asserting that Hitler was a victim of a scare campaign by those elements. However, the Nazis largely avoided attacking Hindenburg directly owing to his respect and popularity, and instead encouraged people to vote for him if they were satisfied with the unpopular Brüning.The Nazis pioneered new campaigning tactics, such as direct mailing and transporting Hitler across the country by airplane, allowing him to perform at several rallies in a single day. Furthermore, they would also hire venues that were deliberately too small in order to encourage overcrowding and present the perception of greater popularity for Hitler. The events would last for several hours, with Hitler's actual appearance being delayed (although continual and misleading announcements on his time to arrival) in order to generate further crowd anticipation.Industrialists who had supported Duesterberg were not enthusiastic about Hindenburg and did not largely cross over to him in the runoff, contrary to the hopes of his supporters. Brüning was unpopular amongst industrialists such that after meeting Hitler on 19 March Reusch told the Frankischer Kurier to refrain from making any endorsements in the runoff. Duesterberg endorsed Hindenburg in the runoff; nevertheless, the RLB, the Pan-German League, and the United Patriotic Leagues of Germany all endorsed Hitler in order to end the Republic. Their relationships with Hugenberg were all consequently strained, and he asked the DNVP to not play a role in the runoff as he was increasingly isolated within and outside the party. The industrialist Fritz Thyssen declared himself in favour of Hitler.
In the second round, Hindenburg was elected president by an outcome of 53%, while Hitler significantly increased his result by more than two million votes compared to the first round and obtained up to an estimated 60 percent of Hindenburg's 1925 voters, largely benefiting from Duesterberg's withdrawal. About half of those who had voted for Duesterberg in the first round voted for Hitler while less than a third voted for Hindenburg. Less than 15 percent of Hitler's gains came from defectors of Thälmann.Aftermath
Hindenburg, who owed his election to the support of the Social Democrats and the Centre Party, took the results with little enthusiasm. His failure to retain the votes of the vast majority of his 1925 supporters strained his relationship with Brüning irreparably, and he dismissed the chancellor on 30 May. This was a serious blow to those who had supported Brüning's style of presidential rule by decree. Brüning's successor was Franz von Papen, an ally of Schleicher's who had no political experience or support in the Reichstag. Schleicher and Papen courted the support of the Nazis by calling new Reichstag elections and lifting a ban Brüning had placed on the Nazi Sturmabteilung. The NSDAP emerged from the Reichstag elections in July as the largest party ever seen in the Reichstag and having over a third of the vote, while Papen's position was undermined. Papen dissolved the Reichstag again with elections in November, in which the Nazis lost seats but remained the largest party. Although Papen retained the trust of Hindenburg and the army, he was widely unpopular and a strike by the Communists and Nazis enabled Schleicher, who had tired of him, to drum up fears and force Papen from office and become chancellor himself on 2 December.After two months of an ineffective Schleicher chancery, Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933 upon the recommendation of Papen. The Reichstag fire of 27 February was used as a pretext by Hitler to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree, which nullified constitutional protections of free speech and other civil liberties. Reichstag elections in March gave him a working majority, and he assumed dictatorial powers with the passage of the Enabling Act on 23 March.  Hitler succeeded Hindenburg as head of state upon his death in 1934, whereafter he abolished the office entirely and replaced it with the new position of Führer und Reichskanzler, cementing his rule until his suicide during World War II in 1945. 
Hitler's last will and testament once again separated the two offices, giving the presidency to Karl Dönitz and the chancellorship to Joseph Goebbels. The resulting government, known as the Flensburg Government, governed but a tiny and rapidly receding part of Germany and was not recognized by the Allies. Upon the surrender of the German military they divided Germany into four zones, one controlled each by the British, French, Americans, and Soviets, and collectively governed the whole of Germany with the Allied Control Council. By 1949 three of the zones had coalesced into what became West Germany while the remaining Soviet zone became East Germany; both parts each had their own respective presidential elections starting that year. West Germany's constitution provided that the president be chosen indirectly by means of a Federal Convention consisting of parliamentarians and state delegates. East Germany's constitution provided that the president be chosen indirectly by a joint session of both chambers of parliament, though ultimately only a single person would serve as President before the post was abolished. In 1990, East Germany formally became a part of West Germany and was thus bound by its constitution; the first all-German presidential election since unification, and thus since 1932, was held in 1994. The 1932 election is thus the last election by universal suffrage in Germany as of 2021.