December 1924 German federal election

December 1924 German federal election

7 December 1924 (1924-12-07)
All 493 seats in the Reichstag 247 seats needed for a majority
Registered	38,987,324 ( 1.6%)
Turnout	78.8% ( 1.4pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Hermann Müller Otto Wels Arthur Crispien Kuno von Westarp Wilhelm Marx Party SPD DNVP Centre Last election 20.5%, 100 seats 19.5%, 95 seats 13.4%, 65 seats Seats won 131 103 69 Seat change 31 8 4 Popular vote 7,881,041 6,205,802 4,118,849 Percentage 26.0% 20.5% 13.6% Swing 5.5pp 1.0pp 0.2pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Gustav Stresemann Ruth Fischer & Arkadi Maslow Erich Koch-Weser Party DVP KPD DDP Last election 9.2%, 45 seats 12.6%, 62 seats 5.7%, 28 seats Seats won 51 45 32 Seat change 6 17 4 Popular vote 3,049,064 2,709,086 1,919,829 Percentage 10.1% 8.9% 6.3% Swing 0.9pp 3.7pp 0.6pp
Government before election Second Marx cabinet Z–DVP–DDP Government after election First Luther cabinet DVP–DNVP–Z–DDP–BVP

Federal elections were held in Germany on 7 December 1924 to elect the third Reichstag of the Weimar Republic.

The elections took place just six months after the previous elections in May due to the political impasse following the passage of the Dawes Plan. The result was a decline in strength for the parties of the far right and far left, the Nazi Party and Communists, who lost 18 and 17 seats respectively. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) made the largest gains, rising to 26%, followed by the radical nationalist German National People's Party (DNVP). The Catholic Centre Party, conservative German People's Party (DVP), and German Democratic Party (DDP) also saw a small upswing.

Following the elections, the balance of power lay with the DVP, who announced they would only join a government of the bourgeois right. This time, negotiations with the DNVP were successful, and in January a new majority cabinet was formed under Hans Luther – an independent close to the DVP – as a coalition between the Centre Party, DNVP, DVP, and Bavarian People's Party. For the following three years, until the collapse of the fourth Marx cabinet in February 1928, Germany was governed by cabinets of this conservative orientation.

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	7,881,041	26.02	5.50	131	31
	German National People's Party	6,205,802	20.49	1.04	103	8
	Centre Party	4,118,849	13.60	0.23	69	4
	German People's Party	3,049,064	10.07	0.87	51	6
	Communist Party of Germany	2,709,086	8.94	−3.67	45	−17
	German Democratic Party	1,919,829	6.34	0.69	32	4
	Bavarian People's Party	1,134,035	3.74	0.51	19	3
	National Socialist Freedom Movement	907,242	3.00	−3.55	14	−18
	Economic Party of the German Middle Class	692,963	2.29	0.58	12	5
	Agricultural League	500,525	1.65	−0.31	8	−2
	Bavarian Peasant's and Middle Class Party	312,442	1.03	0.37	5	2
	German-Hanoverian Party	261,549	0.86	−0.23	4	−1
	German Social Party–Reichsbund für Aufwertung	159,115	0.53	−0.61	0	−4
	Independent Social Democratic Party	98,842	0.33	−0.47	0	0
	German Revaluation and Reconstruction Party	81,944	0.27	New	0	New
	Polish People's Party	81,700	0.27	−0.07	0	0
	Christian Social People's Community	41,530	0.14	−0.29	0	0
	Free Economy Union F.F.F.	38,923	0.13	0.01	0	0
	Revaluation and Reconstruction Party (RWV 23)	33,656	0.11	New	0	New
	Party for People's Welfare	32,496	0.11	New	0	New
	Haeusser Alliance	9,747	0.03	−0.05	0	0
	Wendish People's Party	5,585	0.02	−0.02	0	0
	Schleswig Club	5,134	0.02	−0.01	0	0
	German Christian People's Party	4,322	0.01	New	0	New
	Deutschvölkische Reichspartei	3,405	0.01	New	0	New
	Masurian Union	542	0.00	0.00	0	0
	Reevaluation and Reconstruction Party	478	0.00	New	0	New
	Tenants' Party	246	0.00	New	0	New
Total		30,290,092	100.00	–	493	21
Valid votes		30,290,092	98.65
Invalid/blank votes		414,934	1.35
Total votes		30,705,026	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		38,987,324	78.76
Source: Gonschior.de

Works cited

• Childers, Thomas (1983). The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807815705.