Negative majority

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A negative majority describes a situation in a democratically elected parliament that renders this parliament unable to act. It occurs when at least two political groups jointly have an absolute majority in parliament, but cannot or want to work with each other or with other groups due to political differences . It is not possible to form a government in this situation as these factions are so strong that no other faction is able to form a government without them.

This situation arose in German history at the end of the Weimar Republic . After the election to the Reichstag on July 31, 1932, the NSDAP faction had 230 seats and the KPD faction 89 seats. Together they had an absolute majority with 319 out of a total of 608 seats. The same situation arose after the Reichstag elections on November 6, 1932 , when the NSDAP 196 and the KPD were able to win 100 seats. This also led to a joint absolute majority with 296 out of 584 seats. Due to fundamental political differences, it was not possible to form a coalition in either case . Since both parties rejected the republic in its current form, they refused any cooperation with other factions. The results of this were the incapacity of the Reichstag to work, the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933, new Reichstag elections on March 5, 1933 , the seizure of power by the NSDAP and thus the end of the Weimar Republic.

After the state elections in Thuringia in 2019 , the incumbent government coalition lost an absolute majority. At the same time, the alternative for Germany gained significantly, resulting in a negative majority of the Left Party and the AfD, since the CDU and FDP ruled out cooperation with these parties. This led to the government crisis in Thuringia in 2020 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas Gonschior - Results of the Reichstag elections 1919-1933: http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/Uebersicht_RTW.html
  2. ^ Foundation German Historical Museum, Foundation House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany and Federal Archives of the KPD during the Weimar Republic: https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer- Republik /innenpolitik/kpd
  3. ^ Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum, Stiftung Haus der Geschichte of the Federal Republic of Germany and Federal Archives on the NSDAP during the Weimar Republic: https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer- Republik /innenpolitik/nsdap
  4. ^ Foundation German Historical Museum, Foundation House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany and Federal Archives at the end of the Weimar Republic through the seizure of power by the Nazi regime: http://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/ns-regime