Election Results in Overview
| 1st Reichstag 1871 (7) |
Persons eligible to vote: 7,656,000 Total votes cast: 3,907,000 Voter turnout: 51.0 % Persons eligible to vote in % of the population (1):19.4 % | | | | |
| Number of votes (millions) | Share of the vote (in %) | Number of seats | Share of seats (in %) |
Conservatives | 0.549 | 14.1 | 57 | 14.9 |
Reich Party (Free Conservatives) | 0.346 | 8.9 | 37 | 9.7 |
National Liberals | 1.171 | 30.1 | 125 | 32.7 |
Liberals | 0.281 | 7.2 | 30 | 7.9 |
Liberal Union (2) | – | – | – | – |
German Progressive Party (3) | 0.342 | 8.8 | 46 | 12.0 |
German People’s Party | 0.019 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.3 |
Center | 0.724 | 18.6 | 63 | 16.5 |
Guelphs | 0.052 | 1.4 | 6 | 1.6 |
Social Democrats | 0.124 | 3.2 | 2 | 0.5 |
Poles | 0.176 | 4.5 | 13 | 3.4 |
Danes (4) | 0.025 | 0.7 | 1 | 0.3 |
Alsace-Lorrainers (5) | – | – | – | – |
Antisemites, Economic Union (6) | – | – | – | – |
Others | 0.079 | 2.0 | 1 | 0.3 |
Total | 3.888 | | 382 | |
| 2nd Reichstag 1874 |
Persons eligible to vote: 8,523,000 Total votes cast: 5,220,000 Voter turnout: 61.2 % Persons eligible to vote in % of the population (1): 21.6% | | | | |
| Number of votes (millions) | Share of the vote (in %) | Number of seats | Share of seats (in %) |
Conservatives | 0.360 | 6.9 | 22 | 5.5 |
Reich Party (Free Conservatives) | 0.376 | 7.2 | 33 | 8.3 |
National Liberals | 1.543 | 29.7 | 155 | 39.0 |
Liberals | 0.054 | 1.0 | 3 | 0.8 |
Liberal Union (2) | – | – | – | – |
German Progressive Party (3) | 0.448 | 8.6 | 49 | 12.3 |
German People’s Party | 0.022 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.3 |
Center | 1.446 | 27.9 | 91 | 22.9 |
Guelphs | 0.073 | 1.4 | 4 | 1.0 |
Social Democrats | 0.352 | 6.8 | 9 | 2.3 |
Poles | 0.198 | 3.8 | 14 | 3.5 |
Danes (4) | 0.034 | 0.7 | 1 | 0.3 |
Alsace-Lorrainers (5) | 0.235 | 4.5 | 15 | 3.8 |
Antisemites, Economic Union (6) | – | – | – | – |
Others | 0.051 | 1.0 | – | – |
Total | 5.190 | | 397 | |
| 3rd Reichstag 1877 |
Persons eligible to vote: 8,943,000 Total votes cast: 5,423,000 Voter turnout: 60.6% Persons eligible to vote in % of the population (1): 20.9% | | | | |
| Number of votes (millions) | Share of the vote (in %) | Number of seats | Share of seats (in %) |
Conservatives | 0.526 | 9.7 | 40 | 10.1 |
Reich Party (Free Conservatives) | 0.427 | 7.9 | 38 | 9.6 |
National Liberals | 1.470 | 27.2 | 128 | 32.2 |
Liberals | 0.135 | 2.5 | 13 | 3.3 |
Liberal Union (2) | – | – | – | – |
German Progressive Party (3) | 0.418 | 7.7 | 35 | 8.8 |
German People’s Party | 0.045 | 0.8 | 4 | 1.0 |
Center | 1.341 | 24.8 | 93 | 23.4 |
Guelphs | 0.085 | 1.6 | 4 | 1.0 |
Social Democrats | 0.493 | 9.1 | 12 | 3.0 |
Poles | 0.216 | 4.0 | 14 | 3.5 |
Danes (4) | 0.023 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.3 |
Alsace-Lorrainers (5) | 0.200 | 3.7 | 15 | 3.8 |
Antisemites, Economic Union (6) | – | – | – | – |
Others | 0.022 | 0.4 | – | – |
Total | 5.401 | | 397 | |
| 4th Reichstag 1878 |
Persons eligible to vote: 9,124,000 Total votes cast: 5,781,000 Voter turnout: 63.4% Persons eligible to vote in % of the population (1): 21.4 | | | | |
| Number of votes (millions) | Share of the vote (in %) | Number of seats | Share of seats (in %) |
Conservatives | | | | |
Reich Party (Free Conservatives) | 0.786 | 13.6 | 57 | 14.4 |
National Liberals | 1.331 | 23.1 | 99 | 24.9 |
Liberals | 0.156 | 2.7 | 10 | 2.5 |
Liberal Union (2) | – | – | – | – |
German Progressive Party (3) | 0.385 | 6.7 | 26 | 6.6 |
German People’s Party | 0.066 | 1.1 | 3 | 0.8 |
Center | 1.328 | 23.1 | 94 | 23.7 |
Guelphs | 0.100 | 1.7 | 10 | 2.5 |
Social Democrats | 0.437 | 7.6 | 9 | 2.3 |
Poles | 0.210 | 3.6 | 14 | 3.5 |
Danes (4) | 0.018 | 0.3 | 1 | 0.3 |
Alsace-Lorrainers (5) | 0.179 | 3.1 | 15 | 3.8 |
Antisemites, Economic Union (6) | – | – | – | – |
Others | 0.015 | 0.3 | – | – |
Total | 5.761 | | 397 | |
(1) According to the most recent census in each case. The following should be considered: in elections occurring some time after the preceding census (such as the 1890 election, which used the census from 1885 – not the one from 1890 – as a basis), the percentage of persons eligible to vote among the total population appears slightly higher than it actually was. The lower percentage in 1871 can be attributed in part to poorly maintained electoral registers. (2) From 1893 onward: Freisinnige (instead of “Liberale” – different term, same meaning) Vereinigung; as of 1910: incorporated into the Progressive People’s Party.
(3) From 1884 onward: German Liberal Party; from 1893 onward: Liberal People’s Party; as of 1910: incorporated into the Progressive People’s Party.
(4) The votes cast for both the Particularists and the Protest Party in Schleswig-Holstein were applied to the Danes, provided that no additional data was included in the official statistics.
(5) According to convention, the votes cast for the Center Party in Alsace-Lorraine were applied to the Alsace-Lorrainers until 1878, as were the votes of those Reichstag deputies whose votes were listed as counting towards the Center Party in official statistics from 1874 to 1878, but who were not classified as “belonging to the parliamentary party.”
(6) Antisemites participated in the Reichstag elections from 1887 to 1903 as splinter groups under the names: Christian-Socialist Party, German Reform Party, German-Socialist Reform Party, and German-Socialist Party. As of 1907, this category also includes the Economic Union, into which the Antisemites incorporated themselves as the dominant group.
(7) As yet without the Alsace-Lorrainers. These figures are the corrected ones from vol. 250 of Statistik des Deutschen Reichs [Statistics of the German Reich], 1912. The data was corrected because the figures supplied for the 10th constituency in Frankfurt and the 12th constituency in Breslau in the election statistics of 1871/74 did not reflect the results of the first regular elections but, by mistake, those of the by-elections.