1907 German federal election

Federal elections were held in Germany on 25 January 1907.[1] Despite the Social Democratic Party (SPD) receiving a clear plurality of votes, they were hampered by the unequal constituency sizes that favoured rural seats.[2] 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.[3] Voter turnout was 84.7%.[4]

1907 German federal election

← 1903 25 January 1907 (1907-01-25) 1912 →

All 397 seats in the Reichstag
199 seats needed for a majority
Registered13,352,880 Increase 6.56%
Turnout11,303,537 (84.65%) Increase 8.57pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Franz von Ballestrem Otto von Manteuffel Ernst Bassermann
Party Centre DKP NlP
Last election 19.75%, 100 seats 9.49%, 52 seats 13.71%, 50 seats
Seats won 101 59 56
Seat change Increase 1 Increase 7 Increase 6
Popular vote 2,116,246 1,060,209 1,666,705
Percentage 18.79% 9.41% 14.80%
Swing Decrease 0.96 pp Decrease 0.08 pp Increase 1.10 pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
DRP
Leader Paul Singer &
August Bebel
Hermann
Müller-Sagan
Party SPD FVP DRP
Last election 31.71%, 81 seats 5.65%, 21 seats 3.54%, 21 seats
Seats won 43 29 24
Seat change Decrease 38 Increase 8 Increase 3
Popular vote 3,259,029 737,220 471,863
Percentage 28.94% 6.55% 4.19%
Swing Decrease 2.77 pp Increase 0.90 pp Increase 0.65 pp

Map of results (by constituencies)

President of the Reichstag before election

Franz von Ballestrem
Centre

President of the Reichstag after election

Udo zu Stolberg-Wernigerode
Independent

This election was known as the "Hottentot Election" due to the scandal over the ongoing genocide of the Khoisan people in German South West Africa.[5]

Campaign

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The election became known as the ”Hottentot Election”, because its causes and its campaign were dominated by the Herero and Nama genocide in the colony of German South West Africa. The Nama 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 the 2nd of 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 the war with genocidal casualties among the Nama. 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’ve 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” 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. 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.

Results

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The SPD gained another quarter of a million votes compared to 1903, becoming the strongest party in the popular vote by a margin of 10%, even though the high turnout meant they made losses in percentage terms. 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 one another. 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).

43
7
29
14
3
1
20
11
56
1
101
2
7
24
2
59
3
8
6
PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Social Democratic Party3,259,02928.94−2.7743−38
Centre Party2,116,24618.79−0.96101+1
National Liberal Party1,666,70514.80+1.1056+6
German Conservative Party1,060,2099.41−0.0859+7
Free-minded People's Party737,2206.55+0.9029+8
German Reich Party471,8634.19+0.6524+3
Free-minded Union338,6393.01+0.5514+6
Independent Polish240,2872.13+0.4010+2
German People's Party123,7311.100.247+2
Agrarian League131,6881.17−0.367+2
German Reform Party114,8071.02−0.4460
Alsace-Lorraine parties149,0551.32−0.01110
German-Hanoverian Party92,8110.82−0.242−5
Polish People's Party88,6280.79−0.314−1
German Social Party88,3440.78−0.168+5
Independent liberals85,8990.76+0.6630
Middle Class parties74,8110.66+0.592+2
Christian Social Party61,5550.55+0.123+1
Other liberals53,5050.48+0.1100
Polish Catholic Party49,8010.44New3New
Independent conservatives48,6200.43+0.190−1
Bavarian Peasants' League41,1370.37−0.320−2
Polish Court Party39,3930.35−0.0120
Polish National Party35,4990.32−0.1510
Other agrarians30,4650.27−0.2110
Independent anti-semites15,5630.14+0.0700
Danish Party15,4250.14−0.0210
Other left-liberals14,5990.13−0.2200
Lithuanian Party4,2210.04−0.0200
Other conservatives4,0680.04+0.0300
Others8,2680.07−0.0400
Unknown7380.010.0000
Total11,262,829100.003970
Valid votes11,262,82999.64
Invalid/blank votes40,7080.36
Total votes11,303,537100.00
Registered voters/turnout13,352,88084.65
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

Alsace-Lorraine

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PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Alsace-Lorraine Center Party92,66826.97+2.537+1
Social Democratic Party81,58923.75−0.422+2
Independent Lorraine Party48,50414.12−1.693−1
Centre Party43,34812.62+5.531+1
Lorraine Land Party22,3116.49New0New
Alsatian Liberals16,3184.75−4.340−2
Alsace Liberal Group14,8764.33+1.080−1
German Reich Party9,4692.76−0.7410
Alsace-Lorraine protesters7,8832.29−0.6010
Free-minded Union5,6381.64−0.9700
Others7380.21−0.1300
Unknown2150.06+0.0600
Total343,557100.00150
Valid votes343,55799.12
Invalid/blank votes3,0540.88
Total votes346,611100.00
Registered voters/turnout397,25587.25
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p747
  3. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p789
  4. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p775
  5. ^ "Hottentot election [German Empire federal elections of 1907]". dict.cc. TU Chemnitz. Retrieved 20 August 2020.

Further reading

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  • Epstein, Klaus. “Erzberger and the German Colonial Scandals, 1905-1910.” The English Historical Review 74, no. 293 (1959): 637–63. http://www.jstor.org/stable/558886.