1907 German federal election

none April 2023 German Empire parliamentary 1903 German federal election 1903 yes 1907 01 25 1912 German federal election 1912 All 397 seats in the Reichstag 199 13,352,880 6.56% 11,303,537 (84.65%) 8.57pp Franz-Graf-Ballestrem.jpg 210 105 130 0 45 Franz von Ballestrem Centre Party (Germany) 19.75%, 100 seats 101 1 2,116,246 18.79% 0.96 pp Otto von Manteuffel.png 210 105 130 10 45 Otto von Manteuffel German Conservative Party 9.49%, 52 seats 59 7 1,060,209 9.41% 0.08 pp Portrait of Ernst Bassermann.jpg 140 105 130 05 12 Ernst Bassermann NLP 13.71%, 50 seats 56 6 1,666,705 14.80% 1.10 pp Singer Bebel Composite.jpg 110 105 130 0 0 Paul Singer &August Bebel Social Democratic Party of Germany 31.71%, 81 seats 43 38 3,259,029 28.94% 2.77 pp Hermann M%C3%BCller %28Sagan%29_02.jpg 165 105 130 0 55 Hermann Müller-Sagan de Free-minded People's Party (Germany) 5.65%, 21 seats 29 8 737,220 6.55% 0.90 pp DRP Free Conservative Party 3.54%, 21 seats 24 3 471,863 4.19% 0.65 pp File:Karte der Reichstagswahlen 1907 (1).svg 400px Map of results (by constituencies) President of the Reichstag Franz von Ballestrem Centre Party (Germany) President of the Reichstag after election Udo zu Stolberg-Wernigerode Independent politician Federal elections were held in Germany on 25 January 1907.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 978-3-8329-5609-7 Despite the Social Democratic Party (SPD) receiving a clear plurality of votes, they were hampered by the unequal constituency sizes that favoured rural seats.Nohlen & Stöver, p747 As a result, the Centre Party remained the largest party in the Reichstag after winning 101 of the 397 seats, whilst the SPD won only 43.Nohlen & Stöver, p789 Voter turnout was 84.7%.Nohlen & Stöver, p775 This election was known as the "Hottentot election" due to the scandal over the ongoing Herero and Nama genocide perpetrated by colonial authorities in German South West Africa.Hottentot election [German Empire federal elections of 1907] https://www.dict.cc/english-german/Hottentot+election+%5BGerman+Empire+federal+elections+of+1907%5D.html dict.cc TU Chemnitz 20 August 2020 Campaign The election became known as the "Hottentot Election" because its causes and campaign were dominated by the ongoing Herero and Nama genocide perpetrated by colonial authorities in the colony of German South West Africa. The Nama people were referred to as "Hottentots", a term that was derogatory even at the time. The sustained and increasingly expensive colonial war led to a political crisis in Germany on 2 August 1906, when the government requested an appropriation of 29 million marks from the Reichstag. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), in particular, refused to approve further money given the ruthless conduct of German colonial authorities in suppressing the Herero uprising which presaged the genocide. The government attempted to settle the conflict by making concessions, but soon met opposition from Centre Party representative Matthias Erzberger in particular, who criticised the extensive spending and argued against the colonial wars. This led to the Centre Party group, against the will of some of its members, voting against the appropriation. On the other hand, the Conservatives and National Liberals were vehemently in favour of continuing the colonial war. On the 13th of December, the vote in the Reichstag came down with a narrow majority of 177 to 168 against the appropriation. On the same day, Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow ordered the Reichstag dissolved with the agreement of Emperor Wilhelm II. One reason for dissolving the legislature over such a minor issue was that the Emperor as well as parts of the bureaucracy had increasing reservations about the Centre Party. Bülow, who did not share this position and would have liked to continue relying on the centre, gave in to this. He hoped that establishing a new political majority would allow him to restore his damaged trust with the Emperor. Under the circumstances, the only way to do this would be to resume the former Cartel Parties de Kartellparteien alliance between Conservatives and National Liberals, expanded to include the left-liberal parties. Following the death of Eugen Richter the previous year, the left-liberals had tended to indicate their willingness to support the government. This alliance came to pass and is generally referred to as the Bülow Bloc de Bülow-Block. Through the mediation of the government, agreements were reached to cooperate during runoff elections, which had now become common. During the election campaign, the government itself would be responsible for setting the tone, with its demands for a reliable majority on "national issues" and the struggle against the Social Democrats, who were seen as an enemy of monarchy, religion and property, and against the "unreliable" Centre Party. The goal was to create a nationalist, anti-socialist and anti-clerical bloc out of the Cartel parties and the left-liberals. This was supported by the newly founded National Association Against Social Democracy de Reichsverband gegen die Sozialdemokratie. Results The SPD gained around a quarter of a million votes compared to 1903, receiving 10% more of the vote than any other party, although the high turnout meant the SPD's vote share in total was down. Also affecting the Social Democrats negatively were the runoff agreements between the parties of the bloc. So, despite their high share of the vote, they only won 43 seats compared to 81 in 1903. The centre were able to make gains, going from 100 to 105 seats. The bloc parties made minor seat gains, primarily because their electoral agreements meant they did not compete with each other. The two conservative parties increased their seat number from 75 to 84. Even more minor were the gains for the National Liberals, who rose from 51 to 54 seats. However, the left-liberals made clearer gains, improving their position from 36 to 49 seats. In total, when counting minor parties and independents aligned with it, the bloc achieved a majority of 220 out of 397 seats. Also notable was the success of Polish candidates in Upper Silesia, winning five out of the region's twelve constituencies. This was in contrast to the elections from 1871 to 1898, in which, despite the Polish-speaking majority, no Polish candidate ever won a seat there. This politicisation of the Upper Silesian Poles was primarily caused by the anti-Polish linguistic and cultural policies of the Prussian state government (see the Września school strike). #F8F9FA 43 Social Democratic Party of Germany 7 German People's Party (1868) 29 German Free-minded Party 14 Free-Minded Union #EEDC82 3 Independent Liberals #EEDC82 1 Danish Party #FFA54F 0 20 Polish Party #FFA54F 11 Alsace-Lorraine Party #FFA54F 56 National Liberal Party (Germany) 1 Agrarians Bavarian Peasants' League 101 Centre Party (Germany) 2 German-Hanoverian Party 7 German Agrarian League 24 German Reich Party 2 Independent Conservatives #007FFF 59 German Conservative Party 3 German Christian Social Party #008080 8 German Social Party (German Empire) Nazi Party 6 German Reform Party Nazi Party Social Democratic Party 3259029 43 −2.77 −38 Centre Party 2116246 101 −0.96 +1 National Liberal Party 1666705 56 +1.10 +6 German Conservative Party 1060209 59 −0.08 +7 Free-minded People's Party 737220 29 +0.90 +8 German Reich Party 471863 24 +0.65 +3 Free-minded Union 338639 14 +0.55 +6 Independent Polish Polish Party 240287 10 +0.40 +2 German People's Party 123731 7 0.24 +2 Agrarian League 131688 7 −0.36 +2 German Reform Party Nazi Party 114807 6 −0.44 0 Alsace-Lorraine parties 149055 11 −0.01 0 German-Hanoverian Party 92811 2 −0.24 −5 Polish People's Party Polish Party 88628 4 −0.31 −1 German Social Party Nazi Party 88344 8 −0.16 +5 Independent liberals #EEDC82 85899 3 +0.66 0 Middle Class parties #007FFF 74811 2 +0.59 +2 Christian Social Party 61555 3 +0.12 +1 Other liberals #EEDC82 53505 0 +0.11 0 Polish Catholic Party Polish Party 49801 3 New New Independent conservatives #007FFF 48620 0 +0.19 −1 Bavarian Peasants' League 41137 0 −0.32 −2 Polish Court Party Polish Party 39393 2 −0.01 0 Polish National Party Polish Party 35499 1 −0.15 0 Other agrarians Bavarian Peasants' League 30465 1 −0.21 0 Independent anti-semites #964B00 15563 0 +0.07 0 Danish Party 15425 1 −0.02 0 Other left-liberals Free-minded People's Party (Germany) 14599 0 −0.22 0 Lithuanian Party 4221 0 −0.02 0 Other conservatives #007FFF 4068 0 +0.03 0 Others 8268 0 −0.04 0 Unknown 738 0 0.00 0 40708 0 13352880 Wahlen in DeutschlandWahlen in Deutschland Alsace-Lorraine Alsace-Lorraine Center Party Centre Party (Germany) 92668 7 +2.53 +1 Social Democratic Party 81589 2 −0.42 +2 Independent Lorraine Party #B59631 48504 3 −1.69 −1 Centre Party 43348 1 +5.53 +1 Lorraine Land Party #EEDC82 22311 0 New New Alsatian Liberals #EEDC82 16318 0 −4.34 −2 Alsace Liberal Group #EEDC82 14876 0 +1.08 −1 German Reich Party 9469 1 −0.74 0 Alsace-Lorraine protesters #DCBFA3 7883 1 −0.60 0 Free-minded Union 5638 0 −0.97 0 Others 738 0 −0.13 0 Unknown 215 0 +0.06 0 3054 0 397255 Wahlen in DeutschlandWahlen in Deutschland References Further reading Epstein, Klaus. "Erzberger and the German Colonial Scandals, 1905-1910." The English Historical Review 74, no. 293 (1959): 637–63. Category:Federal elections in Germany Germany Federal Category:Elections in the German Empire Germany