1919 German legislative election

**Federal elections** were held in Germany on 23 February 1919, although members of the standing army in the east voted for their representatives only on 3 March. The elections were the only elections held in the newly established Weimar Republic, as the German Civil War would erupt in May.

## Process

It was the first German election held using proportional representation and with women's suffrage. It is also reckoned as the first truly free and fair all-German election, as it was the first to be held after the scrapping of the old constituencies that grossly overrepresented rural areas. The voting age was lowered to 20, down from 25 which it had been in the Reichstag election of 1912.

Austrian citizens living in Germany were allowed to vote, in the same way that German citizens living in Austria were also allowed to vote in the Austrian Constitutional Assembly election in the same year.

## Background

The election had been rushed specifically in large part to contain a possible rise in support for the USPD and KPD. The date of election had been a major point of contention within the revolutionary government, as well as within the 1st German Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils. Proposals to hold the election in March were rejected, while another proposal for January was scrapped due to a compromise between the SPD and USPD, which led to the date being set for 23 February.

The events that led up to the election played a major part in the results. In particular, there was a major revolutionary strike in the Ruhr, largely led by the KPD and USPD, in the week preceding the election. The conduct of the SPD in opposing strikes and working with the military led to many workers voting for the KPD and USPD. The KPD itself had only been formed in January from a split at the party congress of the USPD, leaving them with little time to campaign. Though the split was publicized, many left-wing voters opted for the USPD due to name recognition. Despite the opposition, the SPD was able to stage themselves as the main workers' party, with the actions of the Ebert government being unknown to many voters at the time.

## Results

The supporting parties of the "Weimar Coalition" (SPD, Zentrum and DDP) together won 72.5% of the votes cast, compared to 11.4% for the revolutionary opposition (USPD and KPD). Overall, the main opposition parties (DNVP, USPD, KPD and DVP) received 26% of votes cast. Voter turnout was 82.7%. The results of the revolutionary opposition parties were viewed with mixed analyses. On one hand, the newly founded KPD achieved a much better result than expected. On the other hand, the KPD and USPD were clearly in the minority, which the SPD used as a propaganda tool to legitimize its rule. The parties of the left (SPD, KPD and USPD) collectively received 46% of votes cast, leaving bourgeois parties with a slight majority. Support for the KPD and USPD was particularly manifested in the so-called "Red Belt" stretching from Thuringia to Berlin, with a majority of votes achieved in the Halle-Merseburg electoral district.

From its inaugural session on 12 March, the National Assembly (*Nationalversammlung*) functioned as both a constituent assembly and unicameral legislature. On 15 March, provisional *Reichspräsident* (President) Friedrich Ebert appointed Philipp Scheidemann *Reichsministerpräsident* after being elected in a parliamentary vote.Scheidemann's government replaced the revolutionary *Rat der Volksbeauftragten* (Council of the People's Deputies).

The months that followed the election were highly contentious. The formation of a government alongside bourgeois parties alienated many SPD members and voters, while the continued hostility of the SPD towards striking workers resulted in shifting support. The Weimar Coalition itself was split over differing visions for a democratic Germany. Ebert's government also found itself in a struggle with the military command, who had become increasingly impatient with the situation and incapable of controlling their own units due to a continued rise in revolutionary sympathies throughout the army ranks. In April the country was launched into a state of anarchy due to a coup by elements of the right-wing Freikorps, which triggered large strikes across the country. Large areas, such as the Ruhr, were left in control of revolutionary-minded strikers, who armed themselves to oppose the putschists. The Berlin Executive Council, which stood as the highest authority over the workers' councils across the nation, had come under the control of the revolutionary parties in January, which prompted them to hold the 2nd German Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils from 19 to 24 April. At its conclusion a consensus was reached to call for a general uprising against the putschist government if it had not stood down by 1 May. When the deadline came the call was met and fighting erupted on a mass scale across Germany between the striking workers and the Freikorps, marking the beginning of the German Civil War.